Beirut, March 23: Israel abducted two Lebanese shepherds Tuesday in an act that prompted calls for international action to be taken against the Jewish state following its latest violation of Lebanese sovereignty.
The Israel Army notified the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that it had abducted two shepherds from an area close to the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish. It claimed the pair had crossed the Blue Line into Israeli territory before their arrest.
“UNIFIL was informed by the [Israeli Army] that they apprehended two Lebanese shepherds in the general area of Rmeish at around 1015 hours this morning. According to the [Israeli Army] the shepherds were apprehended after they had crossed the Blue Line,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star. “UNIFIL is currently in the process of ascertaining the facts of the incident.”
Singh added that UNIFIL Force Commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas was personally in contact with Israeli authorities, urging the release of the shepherds.
The Lebanese Army named the two as Leon Alam and Mohammad Zahra.
“In an act considered as an attack against Lebanese sovereignty and a detention of citizens’ freedom, an Israeli patrol abducted two citizens at the outskirts of Rmeish near the Blue Line,” an army communiqué said.
“Intensive contacts are currently being undertaken by the Lebanese Army and UNIFIL forces in Lebanon to instantly obtain the release of the two abducted citizens,” it added.
Bint Jbeil MP Qassem Hashem called on the Foreign Ministry to complain to the U.N. Security Council over what the Development and Liberation bloc lawmaker described as “piracy.”
Hashem said Israel’s land, air and maritime violations of Lebanese territory confirmed “beyond doubt the nature of the Israeli enemy: a hostile nature which has no respect for international rules and treaties. “It also confirms the resistance alone is capable of responding to this hostility,” he added.
“The Israeli piracy we see today has received permission from some people on the inside: those calling for the fall and elimination of the resistance’s arsenal,” he added, in reference to recent calls from March 14 politicians for Hezbollah to abandon its weapons.
Nabatieh MP Yassine Jaber said that Israel’s actions constituted a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which stipulates Israel not breach Lebanon’s sovereign borders.
“The Israeli enemy is still indulging in violations by planting spying devices and more Israeli collaborators in Lebanon,” the MP said, in reference to the dismantling by the Lebanese Army last week of a reconnaissance device, disguised as a rock, close to Chamaa.
Jaber also called on the Foreign Ministry to file a complaint in New York against Tuesday’s alleged kidnapping.
Israeli apprehended Lebanese shepherd Charbel Khoury, from Rmeish, in January, an act that prompted an official complaint to the U.N. from Lebanon. In 2010, several Lebanese herders were arrested by Israeli Army patrols, including 11-year-old Mohammad Hayel Zaal Mohammad, before being returned to Lebanon.
——–Agencies