The Lebanese Army claims an IDF patrol carried out a cross-border arrest of a shepherd Wednesday in an area of the country's southern region near Israel's northern border.
In a statement, Lebanon called the alleged action “a flagrant assault on residents of southern Lebanon.”
The Lebanese Army, which is permeated with Hizbullah terrorist sympathizers, claimed, “Enemy troops crossed the technical fence south of the village of Rmeish and kidnapped a Lebanese man, whom they took back into the occupied territories” – a reference to Israel.
The statement added that the Lebanese Army had asked assistance from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in persuading Israel to “free the citizen,” identified by the AFP news agency as Sharbel Khoury.
Israel periodically conducts overflights of the area, about which Hizbullah and the Lebanese government have repeatedly expressed their objections to the United Nations.
The reconnaissance flights are conducted to monitor terrorist activity, arms smuggling and other violations of U.N. Security Resolution 1701, which calls for the dismantling and disarming of all militias in Lebanon in the wake of the 2006 Second Lebanon War between Hizbullah and Israel.
UNIFIL commanders stated from the outset they could not and would not attempt to fulfill the mandate of the resolution. Nor was the Lebanese Army willing to do so; in fact, the Lebanese government subsequently announced its firm support for Hizbullah's right to bear arms.