The Lebanese army has said that an Israeli reconnaissance plane has breached the country’s airspace in violation of a UN Security Council resolution.

A statement issued by the army says an unmanned, remote-controlled Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace via the country’s southern border on Friday. The plane flew over areas in the south and the capital, Beirut, before leaving after midnight local time.

Israeli warplanes violate the Lebanese airspace almost on a daily basis. The Hezbollah resistance movement in the Lebanese government along with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has repeatedly called on Israel to halt its surveillance flights over Lebanon.

The move is seen as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that called on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and hence ended Israel’s 33-day war against Lebanon in 2006.

The 33-day offensive destroyed much of Lebanon’s major infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 people, mainly civilians.

According to evidence-backed statistics submitted to the United Nations by the Lebanese government in 2009, Israel has breached the provisions of the resolution on more than 7,000 occasions by violating Lebanon’s airspace, territorial waters, and border.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman has also submitted an official complaint to the United Nations Security Council over Israeli espionage activities inside his country.

(Press TV)