Israel Criticizes Occupation of Kfarshouba Post by Lebanese Residents
The Israeli army on Saturday criticized as a "gross violation" of Resolution 1701 the brief occupation of Kfarshouba post by Lebanese residents, saying they had put themselves in danger.
An army spokesman charged that Friday”s action in the unmanned post in a disputed area near the ceasefire line between the two neighbors was a breach of the U.N. Security Council truce resolution that brought an end to the devastating 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.
"We consider this intrusion by Lebanese civilians to be a gross violation of UN Resolution 1701," the spokesman said.
"These civilians, who included children, put themselves in danger through their actions.
"Our forces deliberately refrained from intervening after establishing that these civilians were unarmed," the spokesman added.
Around 70 Lebanese, led by MP Qassem Hashem, cut through barbed wire and marched on the post in the Kfarshouba hills which Israel set up earlier this week, an AFP correspondent said.
The protesters put up Lebanese and Hizbullah flags just outside the post, before being asked by U.N. peacekeepers to evacuate the area.
Shortly afterwards three Israeli tanks approached and soldiers were seen removing the flags.
The Lebanese army asked the U.N. on Tuesday to remove the Israeli outpost.
But the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which is charged with overseeing the 2006 ceasefire resolution, has said that it lies outside the area of its mandate.
The post lies just outside the disputed Shebaa Farms — a sliver of land rich in water resources located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and north Israel.
Israel seized the Shebaa Farms from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war as part of the Golan Heights, a territory it then annexed in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
The area has since been caught in a tug-of-war over ownership, with the U.N. saying it is part of the Syria Golan Heights, while Damascus and Beirut insist it is Lebanese.