Army says “explosives” found at Lebanon base just “drain cleaner”
A suspect substance thought to be explosives found at the weekend at a UN base in southern Lebanon was nothing more than a cleaning agent used to unblock drains, an army spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.
"The substance was something you use to open up clogged drains," the spokesman said, adding that the two suspects detained in connection with the incident would be released.
"We have ruled out any criminal intent," he said..
The substance discovered on Sunday by a sniffer dog in a garbage truck entering the Italian base of the UN force deployed in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) raised the alarm, especially amid heightened tension in the region because of the Israeli war in Gaza.
A UNIFIL military spokesman said at the time that "a modest quantity of explosives" had been discovered in a metal tool box inside the truck and the driver and another worker had been detained for questioning.
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 Lebanon, was considerably boosted after the 2006 war between the militant group Hezbollah and the Jewish state.
Since then, it has been the target of three attacks by unknown elements.
In the deadliest incident, three Spanish and three Colombian peacekeepers were killed in June 2007 when a booby-trapped car exploded as their patrol vehicle drove by.
UNIFIL last week said it had increased the number of troops deployed in southern Lebanon after rockets from the area were launched on northern Israel, prompting fears of another front opening in the Gaza war.