UNIFIL/Israel

     The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon is denying Israeli charges that it has been ignoring Hezbollah guerrilla activity in the area of the Israeli border. Senior sources in Jerusalem on Sunday accused UNIFIL of intentionally concealing information about Hezbollah activities south of the Litani River in Lebanon to avoid conflict with the group. In the last six months there have been at least four cases in which UNIFIL soldiers identified armed Hezbollah operatives, but did nothing and did not submit full reports on the incidents to the UN Security Council. In one incident, Israeli officials charge that the UNIFIL force stopped a truck filled with weapons but did not filed a full report. UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane released a statement late Monday saying, "These reports inaccurately represent the way in which UNIFIL operates and repeat the factual inaccuracies in disregard of our public statement that gave a full account of the incident." The Israel Defense Forces and the Foreign Ministry are reportedly very angry about UNIFIL's actions in recent months, especially about the fact that its commander, Major General Claudio Graziano, is said to be leniently interpreting his mission, as assigned by Security Council Resolution 1701, passed at the end of the Second Lebanon War.(19,47)