Lebanon to complain to UN, saying Israel disrupts navigation systems

CAIRO — Lebanon will file an urgent complaint with the UN Security Council over what it called Israel's violation of its sovereignty by disrupting its navigation systems, the foreign ministry said on Friday (March 22).

In a statement, the foreign ministry said Israel was affecting the safety of civil aviation in the airspace of Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.

"Lebanon also holds Israel internationally responsible for the consequences of any accident or disaster caused by Israel's deliberate policy of jamming air and ground navigation systems, and deliberately disrupting signal receiving and transmitting devices," the statement read.

Lebanon did not provide specific details regarding the nature of Israel's actions disrupting its navigation systems.

"Lebanon enables and allows Hezbollah to attack Israeli civilians from its territory," an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson said.

"Lebanon is the last country to discuss sovereignty while it is harbouring a terrorist organisation that has displaced tens of thousands of citizens."

The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and Israel have been locked in hostilities since war broke out in Gaza five months ago, trading fire across the border.

It has marked the worst conflict between the heavily armed adversaries since a 2006 war, fuelling fears of an even bigger confrontation. The border violence has forced tens of thousands on both sides to flee and raised fears the conflict in Gaza could spiral into the rest of the region.

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