Lebanese and UNIFIL soldiers deployed along the Blue Line, facing Israeli armed vehicles, in March, 2023. (Credit: Lebanese Army/File photo)
BEIRUT — The commander of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), General Aroldo Lazaro, relayed an Israeli demand to caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Affairs Minister Abdullah Bou Habib on Monday to remove a tent recently set up by Hezbollah along the Lebanese-Israeli border, the state-run National News Agency reported.
In a meeting at the Serail on Monday, the three officials discussed the security situation, which escalated last with cross-border rocket fire.
On June 20, Hezbollah set up at least one tent at the border village of Kfar Shuba. A spokesperson for Hezbollah did not respond to L'Orient Today's request for comment.
"The security situation in the south was discussed, and they [UNIFIL] conveyed to us the demand of the Israeli side, which is to remove the tent," Bou Habib said in a statement following Monday's meeting. "Our response was that we want them to retreat from northern Ghajar, which is considered Lebanese territory."
"From our side, we have recorded around 18 Israeli violations on the borders," Bou Habib added, without indicating the exact time period of those violations.
Thursday saw the launch of at least one unclaimed mortar round from Lebanon towards Israeli-controlled territory. The Israeli army responded by shelling the area around the Lebanese villages of Kfar Shuba and Mazraat Halta with around 15 rockets. No injuries were reported.
Over the last weekend, Israel effectively cut off the northern part of the village of Ghajar from Lebanese territory by erecting a fence around it. The Alawite-majority village, which is split in two by the UN-drawn Blue Line, straddles Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Commenting on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 and its imminent renewal, Bou Habib said on Monday: "The report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations will be discussed on July 20, and the UNIFIL mandate renewal will take place in the last week of August."
UNFIL's mandate is renewed on an annual basis.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri also met on Monday with Lazaro in Ain al-Tineh, Beirut, according to the NNA.
"The tents are located on Lebanese land," Berri said in a statement following the meeting. "What is required of the international community is to compel Israel to implement Resolution 1701 and to withdraw from the northern part of the village of Ghajar, the Shebaa farms, and the Kfar Shuba hills."
On Thursday, Hezbollah called on the Lebanese government and people to act against Israeli violations in Ghajar.
In a statement, Hezbollah described the Israeli fence as "dangerous" and said that this development was a "full occupation of the Lebanese side of Ghajar village by military force in order to force a reality, not just the kind of periodic violation which Israel is used to every now and then."