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The coffin of Israeli Soldier Uzi Peretz, who was killed on Wednesday, when Hizbullah terrorists fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortars at three Israeli positions in Chebaa Farms. (AP)
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07/01
Ynetnews |
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| By israelinsider staff and partners July 1, 2005 |
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The U.N. Security Council urged the Lebanese government to extend control over its territory, as Israel Air Force combat helicopters continued to fired at areas in the Mount Dov region along the northern border -- suspected Hizbullah strongholds.
This, after Hizbullah infiltrated Israel on Wednesday and killed IDF corporal Uzi Peretz, and wounded four other soldiers.
The IAF aerial attack is a continuation of an extensive military operation which the IDF is conducting in the region in an attempt to capture the Hizbullah terror cell members who are trying to make their way to Lebanon after entering Israel.
"This is an extensive operation, the likes of which have not been seen since our forces left Lebanon," said a senior IDF force.
The U.N. Security Council statement, which condemned the Hizbullah attacks, came after Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman had urged the council to address the issue.
U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson said the statement was not as strong as the United States wanted because it made no mention of Security Council Resolution 1559, which demands that all armed militia in Lebanon disarm, a clear reference to Hezbollah.
"This was a difficult negotiation," Patterson told reporters. "The statement was weaker than we would have liked."
The guerrillas were believed to have attacked three Israeli positions in Chebaa Farms, an area where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet, with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, Lebanese security officials said.
The council statement urged Lebanon to "exert its monopoly on the use of force and to put and end to all attacks emanating from its territory."
Chebaa Farms has become the focus of Hizbullah attacks on Israeli forces since the Jewish state withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000. Hizbullah attacks the enclave periodically, the last time being May 21.
Lebanon and Syria say Chebaa Farms is Lebanese territory, but U.N. cartographers who surveyed the border after the Israeli withdrawal said it belongs to that part of Syria which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Gillerman said afterward the statement sent a strong message. He accused Hizbullah and the Lebanese government of trying to destabilize the region.
The AP contributed to this report
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