UN urges Solana to pressure Israel on Lebanon overflights

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has previously complained that the continued overflights are harming its mission in Lebanon.

The issue was raised by Pellegrini during a 40 minute meeting with Solana, on the second leg of a four-nation Middle East trip, at UNIFIL headquarters in Beirut, the official said Saturday.

"(Pellegrini) complained about the overflights," UNIFIL spokesman Daljeet Bagga told reporters. "He asked Solana to pressure the Israelis."

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday Israel would continue the overflights, claiming they were needed to stem alleged arms smuggling to the Shiite militia Hezbollah.

"The Lebanese government is falling short of carrying out its commitment under UN Security Council Resolution 1701," that ended the 34-day war between the Jewish state and Hezbollah, the defence ministry quoted Peretz as saying.

Bagga said there were "sometimes between nine and 15 flights a day, which is quite a lot actually ... (they occur) sometimes late at night."

"It is very discomforting for the Lebanese, it could easily lead to some incident," Bagga said.

Asked about Israel's claims that arms were being smuggled to Hezbollah, he replied: "We have no idea really whether weapons are coming in or not -- we are not really sure."

The UNIFIL deployment would swell to around 10,000 by early December, which a European Union official accompanying Solana said would be "a very satisfactory level".

Bagga said UNIFIL currently comprised about 8,000 to 9,000 troops.

Under UN Resolution 1701, which ended the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah, UNIFIL is to be boosted from its previous level of 2,000 to a possible 15,000-strong force, with European countries providing 7,000 troops.

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