South Lebanon residents renew clashes with UNIFIL

Ya Libnan

Residents in the south Lebanese village of Tayri, a Hezbollah stronghold clashed Thursday with a French UNIFIL patrol, according to local reports.

The incident took place as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol was conducting a GPS demarcation, the reports say.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) intervened, following an alert by UNIFIL general command at the scene of the incident, and resolved the situation by taking the patrol’s computer at the request of the villagers. AAnother clash took place earlier today with a French UNIFIL patrol in the village of Hariss in the south Lebanon, another Hezbollah stronghold according to local reports. The incident took place when the patrol began to take photographs of the area, according to local reports.

Last July similar incidents took place in south Lebanon between the residents and UNIFIL.

“Some of these may have been something spontaneous in the street, but some were clearly organized,” UN special coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, said last July

UN Officials said patrols by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon were banned from several Shi’ite villages in the south. They said Shi’ites have been attacking UNIFIL patrols in what appeared to be organized by the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah.

On July 3, a UNIFIL patrol was attacked and overpowered by Shi’ites in the southern village of Kabrikha. Officials said the villagers, after one of them had been arrested, pelted UN troops and seized their weapons.

On June 29, Shi’ites attacked a UNIFIL vehicle between the villages of Adeisseh and Kfar Kila. The Shi’ites blocked a road and hurled stones toward a UN patrol during what officials termed a “maximum deployment exercise.” The exercise, meant to ensure troop readiness, was said to have ended on the following day.

“It is incumbent on the Lebanese authorities to ensure the security and freedom of movement for UNIFIL within its area of operation,” UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas said last July following the clashes.

Since 2007, UNIFIL has deployed 13,500 troops in southern Lebanon in an effort to maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Under the ceasefire, Hezbollah was prevented from restoring its presence south of the Litani River.