Beirut, March 29: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon denied media reports Monday of clashes with the local population in two border villages in south Lebanon, describing the relationship between the two sides as “excellent.”
Several local media outlets reported that tensions were high in border areas following friction between UNIFIL troops and local residents in the villages of Houla and Adaysseh, both located near the border with Israel.
“There was no friction in the village of Adaysseh today. U.N. peacekeepers were working on a sidewalk in the vicinity of the Blue Line,” Andrea Tenenti, UNIFIL’s deputy spokesperson, told The Daily Star. He was referring to the U.N.-demarcated border line between Lebanon and Israel following the Israeli troop pull out from south Lebanon in 2000 which ended a 22-year occupation. “The ongoing work on the sidewalk was coordinated with the Lebanese Army,” Tenenti said.
UNIFIL’s chief spokesperson, Neeraj Singh, dismissed Monday media reports of a clash between UNIFIL and local residents in Houla Saturday as “baseless,” describing the ties between the two sides as “excellent.”
“It has been alleged in some media reports that a UNIFIL patrol had some friction with the local population in the village of Houla on March 26. These media reports are baseless and UNIFIL can confirm that there was no friction between any UNIFIL patrol and the local population in Houla on March 26,” Singh told.
“Relations between UNIFIL and the people of south Lebanon are excellent and based on trust and mutual respect,” Singh said, adding UNIFIL carries out its work in close coordination with the Lebanese Army to meet its mandated tasks under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended Israel’s devastating war on Lebanon in 2006.
In 2010, residents of some villages in the south clashed with French members of the peacekeeping force. A number of peacekeepers were wounded in stone-throwing incidents.
——–Agencies