Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said on Sunday that implementing International Resolution 1701 to deport Hezbollah fighters north of the Litani River is the only way to prevent a war with Lebanon.
Cohen added during a joint press conference with his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in Tel Aviv that the issue with Hezbollah can be resolved diplomatically or through military action, indicating that France can play a positive and important role in preventing a war in Lebanon.
The French Foreign Minister is scheduled to visit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Monday, and expressed her country’s “deep” concern about the situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for an “immediate and sustainable new truce.”
On August 11, 2006, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted this resolution, which calls for a complete cessation of combat operations between Lebanon and Israel, after a 33-day war between Hezbollah and the Israeli army.
The resolution calls for the creation of an area between the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel and the Litani River in southern Lebanon, free of any militants, military equipment and weapons, except those belonging to the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL).
Since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, the border with Lebanon has witnessed a daily exchange of bombing between the Israeli army and the Lebanese Hezbollah.
The party confirms that it targeted Israeli border military sites and points, and Israel responded with air and artillery bombardment targeting military and civilian targets in southern Lebanon.
