Israeli troops go home after caught in act of violating Blue Line
An Israeli Army patrol crossed into Lebanon Tuesday but withdrew after being detected by UN peacekeepers, the Lebanese Army said. "In continuance of the ongoing violations of UN [Security Council] Resolution (UNSCR) 1701, an Israeli enemy patrol consisting of eight soldiers crossed the line of Israeli withdrawal between the [Lebanese] villages of Kfar Shouba and Halta … 60 meters into Lebanese territory," a statement said.
The Indian contingent of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in the area "made the patrol withdraw," the statement added.
An army officer told AFP the patrol told the Indian contingent the breach was unintentional.
UNSCR 1701 brought an end to the summer war of 2006.
A beefed-up UN force watches the so-called Blue Line, which defines the point of Israel”s 2000 pull-out, after its decades-long occupation of the South.
But the UN does not recognise the line as a formal border demarcation.