US blocks UN Security Council statement on criticizing Israel: Sources
The United States has reportedly blocked a UN Security Council statement on criticizing Israel for attacking Lebanon.
AFP reported on Thursday quoting diplomatic sources that the draft text, put forward by France, denounced all violations of the Blue Line “and strongly calls upon all parties to respect the cessation of hostilities.”
It also expressed deep concern at the recent face-off between Israel and Hezbollah across the Blue Line.
Diplomats said Washington blocked the first version twice and wanted Hezbollah to be specifically slammed in the text.
Late last month, Israel launched a drone strike on Hezbollah's Beirut stronghold.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun denounced the attack as “a declaration of war” against the Arab country, and vowed that Lebanon will defend its sovereignty against the Israeli aggression.
“What happened was similar to a declaration of war, which allows us to resort to our right to defending our sovereignty,” Aoun's office quoted him as saying during a meeting with the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Yan Kubish on August 26.
The Lebanese president’s remarks came a day after two drones crashed in Beirut's southern suburbs.
According to the Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, the first drone had fallen on a building housing Hezbollah’s media office in Dahieh suburb. The second drone, which appeared to have been sent by Israel to search for the first one, had crashed in an empty plot nearby after being detonated in the air, it added.
Following the drone raids, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, vowed in a televised speech that fighters of the movement would counter any further violation of the Lebanese airspace by Israeli drones, warning the Tel Aviv regime to immediately halt such breaches.
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