UNIFIL boosts troop presence along Israeli border
Additional UN troops have been deployed in southern Lebanon to prevent any further incidents following a rocket attack launched from the region on northern Israel, a UN spokeswoman told AFP.
"Additional troops have been deployed on the ground and patrols have been intensified across the area of operations to prevent any further incident," said Yasmina Bouziane, spokeswoman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). She said the Lebanese army had also sent reinforcements to the region after at least three rockets were fired from an area near the Israeli border early Thursday, prompting fears of an escalation of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The Jewish state retaliated with artillery rounds directed at the location from where the rockets originated, Bouziane said. "UNIFIL is investigating the circumstances of the incident … and the UNIFIL commander … has called for maximum restraint in order to prevent any escalation of the situation," she added.
UNIFIL has some 13,000 troops from various countries stationed in southern Lebanon. The force, which was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon, was considerably beefed up in the wake of the 2006 war between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas.