Two Lebanese Wounded by Israeli Fire

Two Lebanese men were wounded on Sunday when Israeli troops opened fire on them near the divided border village of Ghajar, a Lebanese security official told AFP.
“The two men were wounded by Israeli gunfire and were transported to the hospital in Marjayoun,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

 

He identified one of the wounded as Salim Qobeisi.

An Israeli army spokesman said that troops had come under fire from the Lebanese side of Ghajar as they carried out a patrol.

 

“Shots were fired from Ghajar against an army force. The troops returned fire and identified hitting one gunman,” the spokesman said.

Israeli security sources said troops suffered no casualties and imposed a curfew on the Israeli-controlled side of the village.

 

Ghajar, at the foot of Mount Hermon straddling the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, is perched on a cliff overlooking the precious Wazzani spring, which has been a source of continuous disputes between Israel and Lebanon.

 

It is inhabited mainly by Alawites, most of whom have obtained Israeli citizenship even though they consider themselves Syrian.

According to a U.N.-drawn “blue line” marking the border between Israel and Lebanon following the May 2000 withdrawal of Israeli troops, two-thirds of the village is on Lebanese soil, while the other third is part of the Golan, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981.