A Lebanese drive for a Security Council statement condemning Israel has failed, because of American insistence that any such measure be balanced.
Lebanon hoped the Security Council would react to Israel’s kidnapping last month of Shi’ite Muslim guerrilla leader Mustafa Dirani and the separate air strike June 2 on a training base of the Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah.
But the United States, which has veto power in the Security Council, insisted that any statement condemn as well the Katyusha rockets fired on Israel in the aftermath of the air strike.
Israeli Ambassador Gad Yaacobi expressed satisfaction with this, attributing it to close cooperation with the United States and other delegations.
Yaacobi further indicated in a statement that members of the Security Council are showing increasing understanding of the terrorist nature of Hezbollah and its pro-Iranian nature.
Lebanon, for its part, condemned the Security Council’s failure to act as “a great blow to its role as the ultimate guarantor of international peace and security.”
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