Need parachutists to demarcate occupied Shibaa border

Source: MiddleEastOnline, 20-4-2006
BEIRUT - Syria cannot draw its shared border with Lebanon because a key southern zone remains occupied by "Israel", a government official said in response to a UN call to firm up its borders.
"Syria cannot delineate the border of the Shibaa (Farms area) because it is occupied," Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in an interview Wednesday aired by Al-Jazeera television, excerpts of which were printed by Lebanese media Thursday.
How could Syria carry out the task, Muallem asked. "By sending people in by parachute to do it?"
"Syria is prepared to demarcate its border with Lebanon from the north down to Shibaa, which is occupied and whose border we cannot draw," Muallem said.
"Israel" captured the area in the 1967 Middle East war, and it is now claimed by Lebanon.
"Israeli" troops have retained control of the area since their withdrawal from south Lebanon in May 2000 after two decades of occupation. It remains the scene of clashes between "Israeli" forces and Hizbullah.
The United Nations regards the Shibaa Farms as Syrian territory.