Israel Accuses Indian Troops of Aiding Hezbollahs

Isreal has blamed the Indian troops part of the UN peacekeepers positioned along its border with Lebanon for doing nothing to check and stop the incursion of Hezbollah supporters into its territory and accused it of cooperating with them on the contrary, said a media report.

According to ‘The Jerusalem Post’ report, Israel sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the UN Security Council Ruhakana Rugunda charging an Indian contingent of UN Interim Force in Lebanon with doing nothing to put a stop to infiltration of the demonstrators. The letter even accused Indian troops of cooperating with them on the contrary.

“(The demonstrators) stood opposite the UNIFIL force, (which did nothing), and worse than that, according to statements made by the organisers of the demonstration, they even cooperated with them,” Israeli Ambassador to the world body Gabriela Shalev wrote in the letter.

Last Friday, as per reports, fifteen Lebanese civilians had infiltrated into Israel waving Hezbollah flags. The Israeli troops observed the group but did not confront them, for they returned to south Lebanon minutes later.

This is not the first time when Tel Aviv has accused Indian troops stationed in south Lebanon of having helped Hezbollah.

Indian troops were blamed by Tel Aviv for not only quietly watching the abduction of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah in October 2000 but even assisting them after having accepted bribes.

Shalev also lashed out at Hezbollah for its “grievous violations of Resolution 1701,” which included both the border breach, as well as an attack by Lebanese villagers against UNIFIL troops on Saturday who were investigating an explosion in a suspected arms depot allegedly belonging to the group.

Both incidents “demonstrate an escalation and a pattern of behaviour in Lebanon, that must be confronted,” Shalev wrote.