The United States has blocked the UN Security Council from issuing a statement following the recent exchange of cross-border fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, diplomats said Thursday.
The initial draft of the French-proposed council statement would have condemned "all violations of the Blue Line," which is the UN-drawn line between the two countries.
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Hezbollah terrorists on Sunday fired a barrage of anti-tank missiles into Israel, prompting a reprisal of heavy Israeli artillery fire in a rare burst of fighting between the two sides who enemies say fought a month-long war in 2006. The shooting quickly subsided without casualties on either side, but the situation remains volatile.
The proposed council statement urged all parties "to exercise maximum calm and restraint" and refrain from rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities agreed to by Israel and Lebanon after the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The UN diplomats, who insisted on anonymity because they were revealing information about negotiations that were supposed to be private, said the US objected to the statement's failure to condemn Hezbollah and its "moral equivalence" between Israel and the terrorist group.
According to diplomats, Washington blocked the statement twice, calling for Hezbollah to be specifically condemned in the text.
Washington said it was impossible for it to back any statement putting Israel's right to self-determination on an equal footing with Hezbollah, which it considers a terrorist organization, a diplomat explained.
Several other members of the Security Council objected to the US stance, and the text was eventually abandoned.
Any statement by the council must be backed by all 15 members.
Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed movement, alleged Israel launched a drone strike on its Beirut stronghold late last month.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun denounced it as a "declaration of war."
Israel has not acknowledged that attack but accused Hezbollah and Tehran of colluding to produce precision-guided missiles on Lebanese soil.
Both Israel and the US have called on more countries to recognize the entirety of the organization, and not just Hezbollah's military wing, as a terror group.
A US Mission statement said: "Our diplomatic negotiations are confidential, and we are unable to discuss the details of closed-door negotiations."
Parts of this article were originally published by i24NEWS.
