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UN peacekeepers head in southern Lebanon urges calm
8:10 AM
The head of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (Unifil) has publicly appealed for co-operation from the local community after recent clashes between angry locals and UN troops. In an open letter to the southern Lebanese residents, Major-General Asarta Cuevas called for calm after villagers seized weapons from Unifil soldiers and wounded a patrol leader last week. "As you all know, some recent incidents have cast a shadow on the positive environment in which Unifil peacekeepers have been working, in close co-ordination with the Lebanese army, for your safety and security," Aljazeera.net quotes Cuevas’ letter as saying. Since 2006 southern Lebanon has been under control of the armed Shia political party Hezbollah.