Lebanese army organises tour along border with Israel for UN representatives

by IANS |

Beirut, Aug 9 (IANS) The Lebanese Army Command organised a field tour along the Blue Line between the country and Israel for representatives of member states of the UN Security Council accredited to Beirut.

Lebanese military sources told Xinhua news agency that the tour on Tuesday started from the army barracks in Tyre, passed through Ras Naqoura in the west, and reached the Ghajar axis in the east.

The group stopped at the 13 border points of dispute between Lebanon and Israel, as well as the Shebaa Farms axis, the town of Ghajar, and the barbed wire fence erected by the Jewish state's army.

Mounir Shehadeh, the Lebanese government coordinator with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), said Beirut considers the 13 disputed border points and the Shebaa Farms asterritories occupied by Israel.

He also mentioned that the Israeli boats entered the Lebanese territorial waters in the Ras al-Naqoura axis at the time of the tour, showing a lack of respect for international law.

The Blue Line is a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel published by the UN in 2000.

Last month, the Israeli army installed barbed wire and cement blocks in border areas from the Ghajar axis in the west to Shebaa and Karchouba in the east, leading to rising tensions with the Lebanese army.