Lebanon claims Israel encroaching with barbed-wire
UN peacekeepers today asked Israel’s army to pull down a new barbed-wire barrier that Lebanon said encroached on its territory, a UN spokesman said.
Alexander Ivanko, a spokesman for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, said new wire coils were put up in Lebanese territory between the northern Israeli village of Metulla and Kfar Kila, a town in southern Lebanon.
UN forces have asked Israel’s army to remove the barrier, Ivanko said.
“We expect them to do so as quickly as possible,” he said.
The Israeli army said it was repairing the fence along the route set down in a May 2005 UN resolution. The repairs were being made in various places along the border because of the war, the army said.
In a recent letter to the head of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora protested the barrier encroachment along the “Blue Line” between the countries, Lebanese army and UN officials said.
New barriers were put up in several places, including the Khiam plain and the town of Gadjar, covering an area about 15 yards deep and a total of two miles wide, the officials said.
The barriers run parallel to existing coils laid out along the Blue Line frontier designated by the United Nations force in 2000, the officials said.
Israeli troops are gradually withdrawing from south Lebanon after 34 days of fighting with the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia starting on July 12. Hundreds of people died and thousands fled their devastated homes. UN forces are working to cement a fragile cease-fire.
Under a new UN Security Council resolution, Israeli forces are expected to withdraw fully from north of the frontier. At their peak, an estimated 30,000 Israeli troops were in Lebanon.
