On Tuesday, representatives of UN Security Council member countries toured the southern border strip.
The tour was organized by the Lebanese army. It took place at the Blue Line, the fictitious border established by the UN after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.
It comes three weeks before the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate and after high tensions with Israel at the border in July.
The tensions arose first in Ghajar, a village whose territorial ownership is disputed between Lebanon, Israel, and Syria, and then in Kfarchouba, in the Aarkoub region.
Tel Aviv built a fence in the northern part of Ghajar, cutting it off from Lebanon. In Kfarchouba, Hezbollah set up two tents on disputed land on the border. Later on, Israel retaliated for a rocket fired from this area into its territory. Both incidents exacerbated the tension at the border.
The delegation was accompanied by General Mounir Chehade, the government coordinator for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
During the tour, the delegation witnessed an Israeli violation of Lebanese territorial waters off Naqoura, explained General Chéhadé.
He went on to say that Lebanon had sent a memorandum to the United Nations protesting against Israel’s annexation of Ghajar, “the northern part of which is now called the hamlets of Meri,” a village in the Hasbaya district of southern Lebanon.
At present,” he continued, “we are not demarcating but determining the border (with Israel). There are 13 disputed points (between Ras Naqoura and Ghajar) that we consider occupied, in addition to the Shebaa hamlets”. It should be pointed out, however, that seven out of the 13 mentioned were settled through indirect talks under the aegis of UNIFIL.
