BEIRUT: A Lebanese MP and several journalists suffered minor burns after Israeli troops launched smoke and tear gas grenades at the group during a visit to the border of Shebaa Farms, a disputed strip of territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Saturday.
The media delegation, accompanied by MP Qassem Hashem, advanced to within a few meters of Israeli troops before the soldiers took up combat positions and warned the group against coming any closer.
The Lebanese army went on high alert following the attack, while UN peacekeeping patrols rushed to calm the situation.
Hashem later told Arab News: “We were standing on Lebanese land, but Israeli forces — being naturally aggressive — did not spare anyone and used all kinds of intimidation bombs to push us back.
“I was hit in my leg and hand, but the burns and wounds are minor.”
The MP said he shouted at the Israeli soldiers: “This land is ours and you are aggressors. This is our right and we will not give it up.”
He said the media delegation visited the area to remind Israel that “this is our land and it is not susceptible to annexation.”
The visit had nothing to do with the renewal of the UNIFIL forces’ mandate next month, the MP said.
Hashem, who is from Shebaa Farms, said that his family has inherited land in the area that was listed in the Lebanese land registry in 1943 before the establishment of Israel.
“This right is non-negotiable.”
He added that neither Shebaa Farms nor the area north of the town of GHajjar are included in the demarcation of the Blue Line or within the withdrawal line, and Lebanon views the area as Lebanese territory.
Israel has established winter resorts on these fertile and productive lands, he said.
The Shebaa Farms, Kfarchuba Hills and the Golan Heights form a strategic triangle between Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.
Candice Ardell, deputy director of the UNIFIL Public Information Office, said that dozens of people crossed the southern Blue Line near Bustra early on Saturday, and the Israeli army fired tear gas in response.
UNIFIL peacekeepers, as well as Lebanese and Israeli troops, were all present at the site, and the situation was calm now, she said.
Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, head of the UNIFIL mission and its force commander, spoke with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, she said.
Ardell said that several incidents had raised tensions in recent days.
“Thanks to the commitment of the parties on both sides of the Blue Line, these incidents did not escalate further,” she said.
“We encourage everyone to continue exercising the same level of restraint in the coming hours and days.”
The UN Security Council is expected to renew the UNIFIL forces’ mandate in southern Lebanon for another year by the end of August.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the foreign minister “did not request any amendment to UNIFIL’s mission in the upcoming resolution regarding the freedom of movement of these forces.”
Israeli tear gas injures Lebanese MP during border fracas
https://arab.news/rwh6a
Israeli tear gas injures Lebanese MP during border fracas
- Qassem Hashem says Israel stopping ‘us from accessing lands that belong to our ancestors’
- The Lebanese army went on high alert following the attack, while UN peacekeeping patrols rushed to calm the situation
Israel attacks southern Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
- Lebanon insists on return of residents to border villages as a prerequisite for discussing any economic zone
BEIRUT: Two people, including a Hezbollah member, were killed, and more than five others injured on Sunday in Israeli airstrikes carried out without warning on towns in southern Lebanon and the northern Bekaa Valley.
The attacks came while the Mechanism Committee, monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel, is experiencing “temporary paralysis.”
The date of its next meeting has yet to be confirmed, following the postponement of a session scheduled for Jan. 14 without a clear explanation.
Israeli airstrikes targeted the towns of Bir Al-Salasel, Khirbet Selm, Kfar Dunin, Barish, and Bazouriye, as well as the vicinity of the Nabi Sheet and Janta towns in the northern Bekaa.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health confirmed the fatality and injuries, while an Israeli military spokesperson said that the army attacked Hezbollah members working at a site used for producing weapons.
The strikes targeted a building where Hezbollah members were operating in the Bir Al-Salasel area in southern Lebanon. The building was being used to produce weapons, the spokesman said.
The Israeli army claimed that its airstrikes on the northern Bekaa targeted “Hezbollah military infrastructure,” adding that the “Hezbollah members’ activity at the targeted sites constitutes a violation of the agreements between Israel and Lebanon and poses a threat to Israel.”
The Mechanism Committee, headed by US Gen. Joseph Clearfield and tasked with monitoring the implementation of the cessation-of-hostilities agreement between Israel and Lebanon, is expected to resume its meetings on Feb. 25.
The committee leadership has not officially confirmed the date, which remains under discussion among its members.
An official Lebanese source told Arab News: “The failure of the Mechanism Committee to convene on Jan. 14, following two meetings that were held on Dec. 3 and 19 in Ras Al-Naqoura, indicates the existence of a crisis.”
The source said that “during the two previous meetings, Lebanon insisted on its two demands for the return of residents to border villages from which they were displaced and where their homes were destroyed, as well as the reconstruction of these villages. These two clauses constitute the foundation upon which negotiations must be built.”
The same source, who is involved in the Mechanism Committee’s meetings, said that “Lebanon’s only gateway for addressing the Israeli envoy’s proposition regarding the establishment of a border economic zone similar to a buffer zone is that the border villages must be inhabited by their residents from the Lebanese perspective. This condition cannot be overlooked under any circumstances.”
The source said that “this was discussed with the US side, in particular, and the statement issued by the US on Dec. 19 regarding the negotiations and the progress made by the Lebanese army south of the Litani River presented acceptable evidence that Lebanon is now at the heart of the negotiations.”
The source added: “Lebanon called on the Mechanism Committee to issue a statement endorsing the Lebanese army’s success in extending its control south of the Litani River, including acknowledgment from the Israeli side.
“However, through the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel only issued a statement referring to positives and negatives."
Last week, Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber confirmed to Arab News, in a special interview from Davos on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, that “the proposal to transform the Lebanese border area into an economic zone was immediately rejected.”
The official Lebanese source attributed the reasons for the postponement of the latest Mechanism meeting to “a structural flaw within the committee, and to a crisis affecting the American delegation related to regional and international developments, in addition to an American-Israeli desire to exclude the French representative.”
The official source spoke of two dilemmas: “There is an Israeli enemy persisting in its violations of the agreement and in its attacks on Lebanon.
“On the other hand, the Israeli side submits evidence to the Mechanism Committee, including documents, photos, and videos, regarding Hezbollah’s restoration of its capabilities, at a time when its Secretary-General, Sheikh Naim Qassem, threatens civil war if Hezbollah’s weapons north of the Litani River are touched.”
The source added: “For its part, the Lebanese Army presents evidence and documentation of what it has accomplished south of the Litani. This means that the Lebanese Army is achieving what it is capable of achieving with flesh and blood. It is aware of the existence of remaining Hezbollah weapons depots and is pursuing them.”
The official source fears “a lack of progress in negotiations in light of all these documents, high-pitched statements, and the American complaint about the slow pace of negotiations.”
He added: “The positions of Hezbollah officials do not help Lebanon’s stance within the Mechanism Committee, particularly with regard to capacity building.”
The source said that “the adherence of the Hezbollah–Amal Movement duo to the Mechanism Committee does not mean their approval of any progress in negotiations.
“When Lebanon proposes expanding the Lebanese delegation to include, for example, a former minister, this constitutes horizontal expansion rather than the vertical expansion that would serve the negotiation process, which should involve specialized experts and technicians. Consequently, any collapse of the ‘Mechanism’ meetings would mean that Lebanon would be facing a very difficult moment.
“It appears that the history of Lebanese–Israeli negotiations is passing through its most dangerous phase today. The world is no longer negotiating with Lebanon solely over its rights, but over its ability to prevent war.”
The official source also stressed that the “Mechanism” constituted a fundamental point of intersection among the participating states despite the difficulties affecting its work.
He said: “The suspension of the committee’s work could be reflected in the issue of the exclusivity of weapons north of the Litani, as its absence would mean leaving matters without controls, pushing Lebanon into an even worse phase.”
The official source said that “raising the level of representation of the Lebanese delegation is not currently on the table, but it is an inevitable end that Lebanon may reach according to the logic of events.”
Lebanon is counting on the anticipated visit of Army Commander Gen. Rodolphe Haykal to Washington early next month, and on the Paris conference scheduled for March 5, to secure further support for the plan to confine weapons north of the Litani River.
