Truce monitors condemn roadside bombing

Truce monitors meeting in the southern coastal town of Naqoura ended 14 hours of discussions shortly after midnight Thursday with a condemnation of a roadside bombing in which a Lebanese civilian was killed last month.

The five-nation monitoring committee had discussed four complaints filed by Lebanon and one Israeli complaint, each accusing the other side of violating an April 1996 U.S.-brokered understanding that prohibits attacks on civilians.

The monitors condemned the roadside bombing near Jezzine in which Tanios Helou was killed on January 27. Both Lebanon and Israel had lodged a complaint over this incident, for which there was no responsibility claim.

A statement issued by the group acknowledged that recent Israeli shelling on the town of Mashghara had wounded Lebanese civilians, but did not denounce the Israeli action.

The statement "urged" both sides to avoid attacks that would target civilians on both sides of the border.

It also "called on Israeli forces to take all necessary precautions to avoid putting civilians and infrastructure at risk."

This was in reference to a Lebanese complaint claiming that an Israeli air raid on Zellaya in the western Bekaa had caused damage to a drinking water plant.