The Israeli security forces launched tear gas today against a dozen people, including journalists and a Lebanese deputy, who “crossed the south of the Blue Line”, the border demarcated by the UN that separates Israel and Lebanon, in the middle of a rise in tension in the area.
“This morning, about a dozen individuals crossed south of the Blue Line in the Bastra area. The Israel Defense Forces responded by firing tear gas,” the UN peacekeeping mission said in a statement. Lebanon (UNIFIL).
According to the Lebanese National News Agency, in this area near the Chebaa Farms -controlled by Israel but disputed by Lebanon and Syria- was the deputy Qassem Hashem, from the Shiite Amal party, who made a visit accompanied by a group of journalists, and all of them “suffocated”.
The situation is now “calm,” the UN mission said, noting that the UNIFIL commander, Spanish Major General Aroldo Lázaro, “is in contact with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line.”
He also recalled that in recent days there have been a series of incidents that have “increased tensions” but “have not escalated further”, and urged the Lebanese and Israeli authorities to “exercise the same level of containment in the coming hours and days”.
The tension on the border with Israel comes after the Jewish state occupied a Lebanese area, and where the Shiite group Hezbollah maintains tents at a supposedly Israeli point.
According to complaints from the Lebanese side, last week Israel built a fence in the north of Ghajar, a village divided in two by the de facto border between the two countries and whose northern part belongs to Lebanese territory.
The erection of the fence has left the entire village in the hands of Israel, which would have taken this measure to pressure Hezbollah to remove two tents erected for almost three months in the so-called Chebaa Farms.
Amid the tension caused by these developments, Israeli forces last week attacked southern Lebanon with artillery in response to an alleged rocket launch carried out from that Lebanese region, while three days ago the Israeli army said it thwarted two attempts to damage the security fence on the border with Lebanon.
