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Escalating violence in Lebanon worries UN

11 July 2013 01:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The UN Security Council on Wednesday expressed concern for the escalating levels of violence in Lebanon due to an influx in Syrian refugees and sovereignty challenges, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The "impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon's stability and security becomes more and more apparent," said a Security Council Presidential statement issued here after a briefing by the Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly and Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Herve Ladsous.

"The Security Council underscores its growing concern at the marked increase of cross-border fire from the Syrian Arab Republic into Lebanon, which caused death and injury among the Lebanese population, as well as incursions, abductions, and arms trafficking across the Lebanese-Syrian border," the statement said.

The Council called on all parties to fully respect Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence within its internationally recognized borders, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions, said the statement.

Further noting with deep concern new developments with regard to the involvement of Lebanese parties in the fighting in Syria, the Council called upon all Lebanese parties to recommit to Lebanon's policy of disassociation, to step back from any involvement in the Syrian crisis, the statement said.

In addition, the council also commended Lebanon's generous efforts in hosting and assisting the refugees and encouraged the establishment of fully empowered institutional structures to carry out planning, delivery and coordination responsibilities.

The most powerful body of the UN called on the international community to increase assistance to Lebanon, which now hosts over 587,000 Syrian refugees as well as 65,500 Palestinian refugees.

On Tuesday, a booby-trapped vehicle went off in the parking lot near the Islamic Cooperation Center in Bir al-Abed, a shopping center in an area controlled by the Lebanese Shiite militant party of Hezbollah in southern Beirut, leaving at least 53 people injured.

Anti-Hezbollah sentiment has been running high in Lebanon since the militant party acknowledged its engagement in the fight against the western-backed rebels in central Syria.

On May 26, two rockets slammed into a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut, hours after the Hezbollah leader said in a speech that his party was involved in the Syrian crisis.