Lebanon files complaint at UNSC, ITU, accuses 'Israel' of cyberwarfare
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Lebanon files an appeal before the UN Security Council urging action regarding the Israeli occupation's cyberwarfare on Lebanon.
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An Israeli soldier adds a new fence alongside the border wall with Lebanon as seen from the Lebanese side of the Lebanese-occupied Palestinian border in the southern village of Marwaheen, Lebanon, Friday, October 13, 2023. (AP)
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has filed a complaint with the United Nations Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations through its permanent mission in New York over the Israeli occupation's repeat violations of Lebanon's cyberspace.
The complaint calls on Security Council member states to condemn the Israeli cyber attacks on Lebanon, which pose a serious threat to civil aviation services and endanger the security and safety of communication networks, devices, applications, and electronic data in vital Lebanese facilities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also requested its permanent mission in Geneva to file a complaint with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The complaint urges the ITU to take the necessary technical measures to stop these attacks and assist Lebanon in ensuring the proper functioning of its communication networks.
The Ministry's actions are based on a report from the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications, which revealed the source of interference in northern occupied Palestine that has caused a decline in the accuracy of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in Lebanon, affecting transport and communication services.
The report also indicated the presence of repeated warnings from the Network Time Protocol server, showing the frequent loss of GPS signals and a decline in the quality of service and user experience for mobile network operators.
Since the onset of the Israeli onslaught on the Gaza Strip in October 2023 and the escalation along the Lebanon-occupied Palestine border area, residents in Beirut have intermittently experienced disruptions in the functioning of widely-used electronic maps, such as Google Maps, and interference with GPS signals.
This disruption in location services for transportation applications, like Uber, is attributed to the interference with GPS signals. Lebanon accuses the Israeli occupation of deliberately causing this interference to hinder land and air transportation amid the ongoing escalation in southern Lebanon.
Not the first complaint
Lebanon’s permanent mission to the United Nations lodged in February a formal complaint to the UN Security Council against the Israeli attacks in South Lebanon, which was not the first time.
The submitted complaint detailed that an Israeli drone, using a guided missile, targeted a residential building in the city of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon, resulting in the martyrdom of 10 people, including women and children.
The mission stated that these strikes amount to a "war crime" while addressing the rotating President of the Security Council Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett.
