VZCZCXRO2940
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0797 2392308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 272308Z AUG 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7121
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000797 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPKO UN IS LE
SUBJECT: UNSC ADOPTS RESOLUTION EXTENDING UNFIL'S MANDATE 
FOR ONE YEAR 
 
REF: STATE 89537 
 
¶1.  (U) The Council adopted unanimously UNSCR 1884 on August 
27, thereby renewing UNIFIL's mandate until August 31, 2010. 
Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, and the US 
co-sponsored the resolution.  There were no explanations of 
vote by Council members.  (Note: Text of UNSCR 1884 will be 
posted at www.un.org/Docs/sc/unsc resolutions09.htm.  End 
note.) 
 
¶2.  (SBU) After the adoption, both the Israeli and Lebanese 
Perm Reps addressed the Council.  Israeli Perm Rel Shalev 
welcomed the Council's decision to extend UNIFIL's mandate. 
She highlighted the July 14 arms cache explosion at Khirbet 
Selim in southern Lebanon, quoting directly from the 
Secretary-General's August 6 letter to the Security Council 
in which he said the explosion was a clear violation of UNSCR 
1701 and that Hizballah forces had been present near the 
site.  She said that there is evidence that Hizballah 
constitutes a clear threat to international peace and 
security.  She called for the area south of the Litani River 
to be free of armed personnel and weapons aside from those 
authorized in UNSCR 1701.  She cited Israel's appreciation of 
UNIFIL, its troop contributing countries, and its Force 
Commander and underscored Israel's dedication to the full 
implementation of UNSCR 1701. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Lebanese Perm Rep Salam thanked the Council for 
renewing UNIFIL's mandate without amendment, noting that 
Lebanon has been the victim of repeated Israeli aggression 
since 1978.  He praised UNIFIL for its work and thanked the 
troop contributing countries, the Department of Peacekeeping 
Operations, and the UNIFIL Force Commander for their 
leadership.  Three years after the adoption of UNSCR 1701, he 
said, much remains to be implemented.  He highlighted 
Israel's continuing violations of Lebanese sovereignty as 
evidence of Israel's obstruction of the implementation of 
UNSCR 1701.  He cited daily Israeli air violations, its lack 
of a withdrawal from northern Ghajar, the lack of a 
resolution of the Sheb'a Farms and Kfar Shouba Hills, and the 
operation of Israeli spy networks in Lebanon.  Salam then 
turned to Israeli Defense Minister Barak's comments that 
Israel did not strike hard enough at Lebanon's infrastructure 
during the 2006 conflict and would not make that same mistake 
in a future conflict and contrasted those statements to UNSCR 
¶1701.  Salam then listed Lebanese civilian casualties and the 
damage to Lebanese civilian infrastructure from the 2006 
conflict, for example enumerating the number of schools 
damaged in Israeli air strikes.  Salam called for such 
threats to be condemned.  (Note: In his remarks, Salam did 
not refer to the July 14 arms cache explosion or make any 
implicit or explicit reference to Hizballah and its recent 
activities and statements.  End note.) 
RICE