Lebanon calls on UN to press Israel to reveal location of landmines

A Lebanese minister called on Tuesday the United Nations Security Council to press Israel to deliver maps detailing the mines it planted during its various aggression in the country's south.

Agriculture Minister Ghazi Zeaiter made his remarks on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Zeaiter said via his twitter account that Israel continues with its "land, sea and air violations, and has left its hatred in our land. The international community has to help the Lebanese farmers".

The British NGO "The Mines Advisory Group" estimated in a report that the leftover landmines in Lebanon have killed 933 people and injured more than 2,780 between 1975 and 2012.

The "Lebanese Mine Action Center," which operates under the Lebanese Army, said that Israel left about 550,000 mines planted in southern Lebanon when it withdrew from the country in May 2000.

It added that Israel has dropped about four million cluster bombs over southern Lebanon during the war in 2006, a quarter of which did not detonate and continue to maim and kill people to this day.

Last week, Lebanon's Defense Minister Yaacoub Sarraf announced that 5 million U.S. dollars has been allocated for the next five years specifically for cluster bomb and landmine awareness programs.

Israel planted in south Lebanon during aggression in the last decade many landmines and dropped cluster bombs that are still representing a huge threat to the Lebanese citizens.

Source: xinhua