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Lebanon welcomes UN Secretary-General''s latest report

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 28 (KUNA) -- Lebanon's Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Nawaf Salam hailed here on Thursday the twelfth semi-annual report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559.
Terje Roed-Larsen, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special envoy for Lebanon, briefed the Security Council this morning on the report and the latest developments in Lebanon.
The report highlighted the continuation of the Israeli violations of Lebanon's sovereignty, Ambassador Salam said in a press release.
"The violations are self-evident in the forms of the occupation of Al-Ghajar, Shibaa Farms, Kafr Shuba villages and the breaches by the Israeli warplanes of the Lebanese skies," he affirmed.
"These perpetual violations as well as war threats being issued by Israel against Lebanon every now and then necessitate a serious response from the international community in order to force the Jewish state into withdrawal from the Lebanese territories and abiding by the UN resolutions," he urged.
Commenting on the calls for disarming the Lebanese Hezbollah party, Ambassador Salam said the issue was subject to national political dialogue.
He renewed the Lebanese government's full respect for the UN resolutions, recalling the fifth article of the government statement concerning the content of the UN report.
"The statement made unequivocally clear the government's tough stance against any attempts to destabilize the country. "To protect the civil peace and order, the government pursues the quest for rebuilding the national army and security forces in cooperation with friendly countries," he affirmed.
The Lebanese parliament adopted several legislations to protect the human rights of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, he said, noting that tackling such an issue was not the sole responsibility of a host country.
Lebanon is working for strengthening the sisterly ties with Syria based on the historical bonds and common interests of the two nations, Ambassador Salam went on to say.
He recalled the speech delivered by President Michel Suleiman to the UN General Assembly session on September 24 detailing the progress made by Lebanon in maintaining the rule of law and enforcing the relevant UN Security Council resolutions. (end) sj.gb KUNA 290056 Oct 10NNNN