Southern Lebanon: Hizbollah & Israel Exchange Fire

Security Council Calls For Restraint In Southern Lebanon Following 'Blue Line' Shootings

Security Council members today called on the parties in southern Lebanon to live up to their commitments and to exercise restraint, after an exchange of fire over the weekend between the Israeli military and Hizbollah forces across the line of withdrawal led to the killing and wounding of United Nations peacekeepers.

Council members received a briefing from the UN Secretariat yesterday on Sunday's incident, during which Hizbollah attacked an Israeli patrol and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) responded with tank and machine gun fire, resulting in the death of a French UN military observer and the wounding of a Swedish colleague.

The members of the Security Council reiterated their call on the parties to fulfil the commitments they have given to respect in its entirety the Blue Line and to exercise the utmost restraint, the President of the 15-member body, Argentine Ambassador César Mayoral, said in a press statement.

Council members "paid tribute to those who have lost their life or been injured in the service of the United Nations, and expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families," he added. "They reaffirmed the imperative to respect, in all circumstances, the safety and security of UN personnel."

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