U.N. Extends Lebanon Force Mandate

The Security Council on Thursday voted to extend the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon for another six months. The vote was 13 to 0, with the Soviet Union and the Ukraine abstaining.

Soviet Ambassador Oleg A. Troyanovsky denounced the continued presence of Israeli troops and what he called their “puppet” Lebanese militia forces in the area and said that they prevented the U.N. forces from performing their mission.

The 6,000-man international force, created in 1978 to maintain order in Lebanon’s southern border region, has been severely restricted since the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

Israel’s ambassador, Benjamin Netanyahu, although not a member of the 15-nation council, was granted the right to answer Troyanovsky.

“The Soviet representative spoke about the ills of occupation and the ills of puppet regimes,” Netanyahu said. “He could start by directing his words to his own government about Afghanistan. If he wants to talk about puppets in the Middle East, he has a ready address and he knows where it is”--a reference to Syria, the Soviet ally in the region.

The Israeli ambassador said that his government’s interest is not in Lebanon but solely in the security of northern Israel.

The United Nations has spent $1.8 billion since the Security Council created the peacekeeping force in March, 1978, to act as a buffer between Israel and PLO elements in Lebanon. The secretary general said that because some member states have failed to pay their share of the cost, there is now a $224-million deficit.