Lebanese Army enters unoccupied part of Shebaa Farms
The Lebanese Army moved Friday into Bastara Farm, the only one of the occupied Shebaa Farms that the Israeli Army evacuated when it pulled out of most of South Lebanon in 2000, an AFP correspondent said.
Lebanese Army vehicles could be seen moving for the first time into the farm, which lies some 300 meters away from other farms which Israel has occupied for more than 40 years.
A road has been reconstructed to link this new position to other Lebanese Army posts in the southeast of the country.
The Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of land rich in water resources measuring 25 square kilometers, are located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.
Israel seized the Farms in the 1967 Middle East war when it captured the neighboring Golan Heights.
Ever since, the Farms have been caught in a tug-of-war over ownership. Lebanon claims them, with the backing of Damascus, while Israel says they are part of Syria.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during a visit to Beirut last month, called for an end to the standoff.
"The United States believes the time has come to deal with the Shebaa Farms issue … in accordance with [Security Council Resolution] 1701," Rice said at the time.
Resolution 1701 brought an end to a devastating 34-day war in the summer of 2006 and called for the UN chief to propose a border demarcation for the Shebaa Farms.
Israel occupied South Lebanon for more than 20 years before withdrawing its troops in May 2000, but it held on to Shebaa. The UN ruled at the time that the pullout was complete and that the Farms were Syrian.
A seven-point plan drawn up by Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and adopted by the UN envisages placing the territory under UN administration while waiting for the three countries to resolve the issue.