Lebanese Army soldiers and UN peacekeepers stand along the barbed wire fence marking the border between Lebanon (foreground) and Israel (background) as an excavator of the local municipality of Kafr Shuba clears earth to reopen the road. (Credit: Ali DIA / AFP)
Tensions rose along the Blue Line again on Thursday, in the town of Kafr Shuba, between the Lebanese Army and Israeli soldiers, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported.
A tense confrontation emerged when Israeli soldiers threw smoke grenades at Kafr Shuba residents who were trying to approach the demarcation line between the two states.
A bulldozer belonging to the Kafr Shuba municipality was deployed to clear an area of road that was closed during construction work by the Israeli army, the NNA added.
Journalist Ali Cheaib of al-Manar, a Hezbollah-affiliated TV channel, tweeted a video of the bulldozer moving blocks of stone amid a large deployment of soldiers and peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), near a portion of the concrete border wall built by Israel.
"A bulldozer from the municipality of Kafr Shuba establishes a dirt road along the line of withdrawal. In the hills of Kafr Shuba, where the enemy is building a cement wall on occupied land. Enemy deployment with tanks and soldiers facing Lebanese Army deployment," tweeted the journalist.
The Israeli army responded to the presence of the bulldozer and Kafr Shuba residents by throwing smoke grenades.
UNIFIL is facilitating contact between the two parties in an attempt to calm the situation, according to the NNA.
Tensions between Lebanon and Israel have intensified along the border in recent weeks. Several security incidents have been recorded, notably Israel's annexation of the northern part of the neighboring village of Ghajar, divided by the UN Blue Line between Israel and Lebanon.
A few days after Israeli forces fenced off the northern part of Ghajar, Israel and unidentified parties in southern Lebanon exchanged artillery fire.
Israeli forces also wounded three Hezbollah members with a stun grenade near the town of Bustan.