BEIRUT: Hezbollah urged UN peacekeepers in south Lebanon, a stronghold of the Shia movement, to stick to their mandate, following a wave of protests by villagers.
"UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) should always carry out its role… in a way so as not to arouse mistrust and worry of citizens as was the case during the latest exercises," Hezbollah’s number two, Naim Kassem, said in an interview with As-Safir newspaper published on Friday.
The protests came during a maximum deployment exercise on Tuesday by the UN force charged with overseeing a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which fought a devastating month-long war in 2006.
In one incident, protestors pelted stones at UNIFIL vehicles, slightly injuring a peacekeeper.
"UNIFIL must pay attention to what it does and realize that any excess only serves to cause worries… and harm trust between the force and residents," said Kassem.
He said the peacekeepers "must stick to their mission as prescribed by (UN Security Council) Resolution 1701. Then there will be a return to normal," said the Hezbollah official.
Resolution 1701, which ended the Hezbollah-Israel war in 2006, expanded the mandate of UNIFIL troops, which was originally formed in 1978 after the outbreak of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war.
Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said on Thursday that villagers had staged 20 separate protests this week against UNIFIL, adding he was "very concerned."
UNIFIL spokesman Neeraj Singh said Tuesday’s exercise was a "regular activity" with no special operations and that the Lebanese army had been fully informed of the exercise.
But the Beirut government, in a statement, said the peacekeepers should coordinate with the Lebanese military and "execute all exercises in collaboration with the army."
