Lebanon denounces Israeli threats in letters to UN

Beirut, Oct 18 (Xinhua) Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora has sent two letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, denouncing Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, a statement from his office said Saturday.

The statement said that one of the letters was 'in relation to Israeli threats and violations,' while the other was 'in relation to cluster bombs'.

In the first letter, Seniora condemned the 'continuous Israeli violations to Lebanon's sovereignty by land and sea' and obstacles persisting by the Israeli side in the process of demarking the border line between the two countries.

Lebanon claims that Israeli warplanes repeatedly violate Lebanese airspace notwithstanding the UN resolution that obliged both sides to respect the international 'Blue Line' separating Lebanon from Israel.

The UN has called on the Jewish state to abide by the resolution so as not to undermine efforts to bring stability to the region.

Israel, however, said it would continue the controversial flights over Lebanon on the ground of that they were needed to stem alleged arms smuggling to Hezbollah guerillas.

Seniora also reproached verbal threats by Israeli officials against Lebanon.

Israeli officials have made several threats, saying that Israel would destroy Lebanon's infrastructure in case Lebanon's Shia militant group Hezbollah carries any aggression against Israel.

In the second letter, Seniora asked the international community to pressurise Israel into handing over the maps of cluster bombs Israel dropped during the 2006 war in south Lebanon, and called for financial assistance to dismantle these bombs.

At least 40 people have been killed by these bombs since the end of the devastating war in 2006 when Israel struck Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese prime minister asked the UN chief distribute his two letters to members of the UN Security Council as documents.