Israel’s Defense Minister Amir Peretz says surveillance flights over Lebanon are justified because arms are being smuggled to Hizbullah from Syria and that the overflights will continue despite growing international pressure. Peretz told the weekly cabinet meeting that the Lebanese government had failed to live up to its obligation under U.N. Resolution 1701 to prevent arms from reaching Hizbullah. He said that until the arms transfers were stopped, Israel would continue the flights. On another controversial issue, an Israeli cabinet minister has confirmed that Israel used phosphorous bombs against Hizbullah targets during the war in Lebanon. An aid to Minister for Government-Parliamentary Relations Yakov Edery said that Edery was relating a response provided by the army to a question posed by parliamentarians. The Geneva Convention bans the use of white phosphorous against civilians or in civilian areas. Israel says the shells were used only against "military targets in open ground."