UNIFIL Intercepted Twice Outside Area of Operations
UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said U.N. peacekeepers were twice intercepted outside the area of operations in south Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
She said the first incident took place Saturday afternoon in Nabatiyeh north of the Litani River when a UNIFIL officer in a U.N. vehicle lost his way at one of the dirt roads.
Bouziane said the officer was stopped by civilian-clothed men, two of them armed, who confiscated his camera, mobile phone and his UNIFIL ID.
She said the officer was not "granted dismissal" before Lebanese intelligence men arrived at the scene and gave him back the confiscated items.
Bouziane said the officer was traveling outside UNIFIL”s area of operations, adding that UNIFIL opened an investigation into the incident in collaboration with the Lebanese army.
The second incident, according to Bouziane, took place Sunday morning when a man in civilian clothes stopped a vehicle carrying two U.N. peacekeepers on the main Yuhmur-Zillaya road in western Bekaa north of the Litani River.
The U.N. officers, who were on furlough, were traveling in civilian clothes in a rented car. The civilian man intercepted the men as they were taking scenery pictures and ordered them to follow him to a nearby Lebanese army intelligence post.
An army vehicle escorted the men back to UNIFIL”s area of operations. A laptop, camera, a cell phone, a map and the two men”s IDs were kept, however, at the intelligence position.
Bouziane said UNIFIL in cooperation with the Lebanese army also opened an investigation into the incident.