Lebanese army says it discovered Israeli spying device on border
Military claims IDF extracted apparatus from Lebanon’s territory after it was found by Lebanese forces
Lebanon’s military claims Israel removed a spying device the Israeli army had placed in Lebanese territory this week after it was discovered by a Lebanese army patrol.
According to a statement by Lebanon’s military on Saturday quoted by several Israeli media websites, a patrol identified the device on Thursday while operating in the contested Shebaa Farms region, known in Israel as Har Dov.
The Lebanese army claimed that when a second force later arrived at the scene to examine the apparatus, it found that it had already been removed by the Israeli military.
The IDF has made no comment on the matter.
In August the UN Security Council warned that violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to a new conflict “that none of the parties or the region can afford.”
The council’s warning came in a resolution adopted unanimously August 30 extending the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon that monitors the cessation of hostilities, until August 31, 2017. It maintained the mission’s ceiling at 15,000 troops, supported by international and local civilian staff.
The council expressed concern “at the limited progress made towards the establishment of a permanent cease-fire.”
It urged all parties “to make every effort to ensure that the cessation of hostilities is sustained, exercise maximum calm and restraint and refrain from any action or rhetoric that could jeopardize the cessation of hostilities or destabilize the region.”
A Security Council resolution ordering a cessation of hostilities ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006. The fighting left some 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead, and ended in a stalemate.
The UN force, which has been in southern Lebanon since 1978, was expanded after the 2006 war so peacekeepers could deploy along the border with Israel to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into the south for the first time in decades.
Tensions in Lebanon have been growing over the politicians’ failure to agree on a new president and an ineffectual government and parliament that barely meets. The country has so far survived the chaos of more than five years of conflict in neighboring Syria, but there are mounting concerns of a major security breach or renewed conflict with Israel as the regional conflict worsens.
AP contributed to this report.
