Lebanon has proposed the demarcation of its maritime border with Israel during a tripartite meeting held at the UNIFIL headquarters in Ras al-Naqoura.

“Maintaining peace and stability was the goal of this tripartite meeting and I am happy that we were able to address all the issues in a constructive atmosphere,” UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas said Monday after chairing the meeting between the Lebanese and Israeli armies.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon lamented that the latest confrontation between March 8 and 14 forces was accompanied by “sectarian” and “inflammatory” remarks.

In his 15th report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, Ban said Lebanon has been witnessing a political crisis over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) conducted an exercise in large-scale disaster response over the weekend.

The two-day exercise entitled “United Beacon” was carried out in the southern city of Tyre in cooperation with a number of government and non-government organizations, said a statement issued by UNIFIL.

A powerful explosion at a Spanish military academy killed five soldiers and wounded three others on Thursday when a bomb disposal drill went awry, the Defense Ministry said.

Soldiers getting ready to deploy as peacekeepers with the U.N. mission in south Lebanon were carrying out an exercise involving a controlled detonation of anti-tank mines when the ordnance exploded before the soldiers could move a safe distance away, a ministry official.

Rear Admiral Luiz Henrique Caroli of Brazil assumed command of the Maritime Task Force (MTF), the naval component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in a ceremony Thursday aboard a ship at Beirut Harbor.

The first Naval Force to be part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL-MTF has been deployed at the request of the Lebanese government to assist the Lebanese Navy to help prevent the unauthorized entry of arms or related materiel by sea into Lebanon. MTF has been working jointly with the Lebanese Navy to that end.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Director of Political and Civil Affairs Milos Strugar stated on Monday that the international force’s jurisdiction does not include demarcating the maritime border, adding that it would be willing to do so if it receives the consent of the concerned sides.

He explained to the Central News Agency that several sections within the U.N. are dedicated to managing legal and political affairs that include peacemaking operations and tackling maritime borders.

Israel has failed to notify U.N. peacekeepers along the volatile Lebanese-Israeli border of its decision to freeze its plan to withdraw from the disputed village of Ghajar, a U.N. official said Thursday.

"The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has not been notified by Israel of any change in their position on this matter," said Milos Strugar, UNIFIL's director of political and civil affairs.

French Defense Minister Alain Juppe has stressed that Najib Miqati’s government should respect international resolutions on Lebanon, including the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Following talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in New York on Monday, Juppe said “a solution should be found to the current political crisis by preserving Lebanon’s unity and stability.”

Amid increased Israeli military activity on the border with Lebanon in the past few days, the Lebanese permanent mission to the U.N. filed Tuesday a complaint against Israel with the Security Council over a recent border violation.

On January 24 an Israeli patrol crossed the technical fence into a disputed area between the occupied Shebaa Farms and the liberated outskirts of the town of Kfar Shouba.

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon commander General Alberto Asarta expressed optimism that the Lebanese will be able to resolve their internal disputes without foreign intervention.

He said in an interview to the daily An Nahar published Saturday that the latest developments in Lebanon will not pose a danger to the country’s future or UNIFIL troops deployed in the South, which he said is “still the most stable region in Lebanon.”