Joseph Haboush| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese and Israeli soldiers came face to face Monday when several of the latter briefly crossed the U.N. demarcated Blue Line and were pushed back by the Lebanese Army. In a video that circulated widely on social media, one Lebanese soldier brandished his assault rifle while a second told the Israelis, in English, to get behind a tree apparently marking part of the border.
“They are cocking weapons,” a U.N. peacekeeping force member was heard saying.
The Lebanese soldiers – objecting to the placement of some barbed wire by the Israeli army – asked UNIFIL members on site to tell the invading soldiers to move it.
“Sir, they [the Israelis] tell us [they’ll put it] behind the tree,” one Lebanese soldier is heard telling the UNIFIL officials, going on to point out that the barbed wire is in fact being laid on the Lebanese side of the tree.
UNIFIL deployed additional troops after the encounter. UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star, “we always have UNIFIL troops deployed across the Blue Line, but additional troops were sent to the area [of confrontation] to defuse the situation and ensure stability.
“The situation now is calm and the additional troops are still in the specific area,” he added.
The Lebanese Army and UNIFIL were on alert after the Israeli army had started rolling out 200 meters of barbed wire along the Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel earlier Monday.
LBCI reported that a topography unit from the Army and UNIFIL found the barbed wire’s placement to violate the Blue Line in three areas. The state-run National News Agency said the Army had moved civilians away from the barbed wire area, near the Kroom al-Sharaki region on the outskirts of the border town of Mais al-Jabal.
Israeli work in the area had earlier in the day crossed the technical fence in Kroom al-Sharaki.
Following the events, Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s office reported that UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Stefano Del Col had met with the premier-designate, to discuss “the latest developments in the south as well as UNIFIL’s missions there.”
Hariri told Del Col that Lebanon is committed to the full implementation of Resolution 1701 and respect for the Blue Line. The resolution ended the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The premier-designate also called for the U.N. to “shoulder its responsibilities in facing the daily violations by Israel of Lebanese airspace and territorial waters.”
Hariri told Del Col that the escalated Israeli tone toward Lebanon “does not serve the calm that has been prevailing for more than 12 years, and that the international community must curb this escalation in the interest of respecting the Blue Line and the full implementation of Resolution 1701.”
The U.N. Security Council is set to convene for a meeting Wednesday to discuss the alleged tunnels, a U.N. source in New York confirmed to The Daily Star.
In a statement released Monday evening, UNIFIL expressed “serious concern” and confirmed the existence of more tunnels.
“Based on UNIFIL’s independent assessment, UNIFIL has so far confirmed the existence of all the four tunnels close to the Blue Line in northern Israel,” the UNIFIL statement said.
UNIFIL said it has requested from Lebanese authorities to ensure “urgent follow-up actions” in accordance with the “responsibilities of the Lebanese government pursuant to Resolution 1701.”
Israel announced Sunday that it had unearthed another tunnel allegedly dug by Hezbollah – at least the fourth tunnel to be excavated in the past couple of weeks since the Jewish state rolled out Operation Northern Shield to find and block the tunnels.
Before UNIFIL’s statement Monday, the peacekeeping mission had confirmed the existence of two tunnels, without commenting on who had dug them.
“After further technical investigations conducted independently in accordance with its mandate, UNIFIL at this stage can confirm that two of the [four] tunnels cross the Blue Line. These constitute violations of … 1701. This is a matter of serious concern and UNIFIL technical investigations continue,” the statement said.
UNIFIL nevertheless confirmed that the area remained calm. “UNIFIL’s leadership is fully engaged with the parties to ensure stability along the Blue Line and prevent misunderstandings in order to keep the area of operation calm.”
However, the statement failed to make any mention of Israeli aggressions and violations of international resolutions, the latest of which came Monday.
The Lebanese Army reported that an Israeli military boat violated Lebanese territorial waters near Ras al-Naqoura between 12:53 a.m. and 6:49 a.m.
“The breach is being pursued in coordination with UNIFIL,” the Army statement read.
An Army source acknowledged that no mention was made in the UNIFIL statement of Israeli violations of Lebanon’s territories, but said that the situation is “very sensitive at this stage,” and that the Army would wait until official reports were handed over to them on the tunnels. “Let’s wait for the Security Council meeting and then we’ll see,” the source told The Daily Star.
The Israeli army also reportedly lifted a balloon with a surveillance camera near the Kfar Kila-Adaisseh main road.
The incident at the border was the most recent development in a period of heightened security measures since Israel launched its Northern Shield operation.