HC Deb 15 July 1958 vol 591 cc86-7W
Mr. J. Hynd

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have now considered the report of the United Nations Commission in the Lebanon; and if he will make a statement.

Commander Noble

The Report of the United Nations Observation Group in the Lebanon of 3rd July is only its first report and makes clear that the degree of observation is still far from complete. It would therefore be premature to draw any conclusions.

Nevertheless it seems appropriate to make the following comments, which may help to correct any initial impression that the Report may give, that the Lebanese Government's complaint to the Security Council which led to the appointment of the Observation Group was unfounded:

  1. (a) The Report considers that its terms of reference exclude any interference in Lebanese internal affairs prior to the Group's arrival. It should not however be forgotten that there is a history of some eighteen months of subversive activity in the Lebanon, inspired from foreign sources, which culminated in the present disturbances, which themselves had been going on for some weeks before the arrival of the United Nations Observation Group in the Lebanon.
  2. (b) The Report makes no reference to the kind of intervention constituted by prolonged propaganda attacks and subversive broadcasts from outside countries. These it does not consider to be within its terms of reference. They are however an important element in the support on which the rebel groups draw, and do not appear to have abated.
  3. (c) The Report makes it clear that the observers do not yet even in daytime have access to all parts of the frontier, and that obstacles by opposition forces have been placed in the way of free inspection, precisely in those areas where the Lebanese Government claim that supply and infiltration take place.
  4. (d) The Observation Group is understood to number by now about one hundred and twenty, and to be satisfied that this number is adequate for its purposes. It will however presumably need a good deal more experience and freedom of movement, including techniques of observation by night and interpretation facilities, before its full potentialities are realised.