| I actually find that mildly surprising... |
The United Nations said yesterday that the Hezbollah resistance group bore the main responsibility for the death of a French peacekeeper in a flare-up of violence on the Israel-Lebanon border. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said the violence had been sparked by a Hezbollah attack that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded three, violating the so-called Blue Line drawn up to mark the border following Israel's 2000 pullout from south Lebanon. "We are expressing ... serious concern over what happened yesterday with the attack of Hezbollah across the Blue Line," the envoy said after talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud. "We can't forget anyway that the event started with the attack across the Blue Line." De Mistura rejected Hezbollah's argument that attacks on the disputed Shebaa Farms district were justified because it remained under Israeli occupation. "We consider the Blue Line (extends) all the way up to Shebaa, including Shebaa," he said.