IDF arrests pair seeking to sneak into Israel from Lebanon in non-security incident

Army questioning infiltrators who appear to have been looking for work, as has been the case in several other incidents this summer, given Lebanon’s grim economic status

By ToI Staff 29 September 2022, 4:18 am Edit

Ilustrative: Israeli soldiers guard in Metula, on the border between Israel and Lebanon, northern Israel, on May 14, 2021, after Lebanese protesters crossed the Israeli border fence. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

IDF soldiers arrested two suspects after they crossed into Israeli territory before dawn on Thursday in what the military labeled a non-security incident.

The pair were spotted by observation posts and arrested by Israeli troops at Kibbutz Yiftach along the Israel-Lebanon border, the IDF said, adding that the suspects were transferred for interrogation.

The army said in a statement that it “will continue to act in order to prevent any attempt to cross the border and violate Israeli sovereignty.”

The suspects apparently crossed the border looking for work as has been the case on several other occasions in recent months and years.

In July, an unarmed Lebanese national was caught in the town of Margaliot near the border. Locals who spotted him said the man claimed to be from Haifa. He was handed over to the IDF who later returned him to Lebanon.

Earlier that month, another Lebanese national was caught in nearby Kibbutz Misgav Am.

In other cases, it has been African migrants who have sought to cross into Israel from Lebanon after failing to find work and suffering discrimination. However, some military analysts believe that the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon uses some of these incidents to test the IDF’s alertness at the border.