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BEIRUT: A Lebanese MP and several journalists suffered minor burns after Israeli troops launched smoke and tear gas grenades at the group during a visit to the border of Shebaa Farms, a disputed strip of territory near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on Saturday.
The media delegation, accompanied by MP Qassem Hashem, advanced to within a few meters of Israeli troops before the soldiers took up combat positions and warned the group against coming any closer.
The Lebanese army went on high alert following the attack, while UN peacekeeping patrols rushed to calm the situation.
Hashem later told Arab News: “We were standing on Lebanese land, but Israeli forces — being naturally aggressive — did not spare anyone and used all kinds of intimidation bombs to push us back.
“I was hit in my leg and hand, but the burns and wounds are minor.”
The MP said he shouted at the Israeli soldiers: “This land is ours and you are aggressors. This is our right and we will not give it up.”
He said the media delegation visited the area to remind Israel that “this is our land and it is not susceptible to annexation.”
The visit had nothing to do with the renewal of the UNIFIL forces’ mandate next month, the MP said.
Hashem, who is from Shebaa Farms, said that his family has inherited land in the area that was listed in the Lebanese land registry in 1943 before the establishment of Israel.
“This right is non-negotiable.”
He added that neither Shebaa Farms nor the area north of the town of GHajjar are included in the demarcation of the Blue Line or within the withdrawal line, and Lebanon views the area as Lebanese territory.
Israel has established winter resorts on these fertile and productive lands, he said.
The Shebaa Farms, Kfarchuba Hills and the Golan Heights form a strategic triangle between Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.
Candice Ardell, deputy director of the UNIFIL Public Information Office, said that dozens of people crossed the southern Blue Line near Bustra early on Saturday, and the Israeli army fired tear gas in response.
UNIFIL peacekeepers, as well as Lebanese and Israeli troops, were all present at the site, and the situation was calm now, she said.
Gen. Aroldo Lazaro, head of the UNIFIL mission and its force commander, spoke with the authorities on both sides of the Blue Line, she said.
Ardell said that several incidents had raised tensions in recent days.
“Thanks to the commitment of the parties on both sides of the Blue Line, these incidents did not escalate further,” she said.
“We encourage everyone to continue exercising the same level of restraint in the coming hours and days.”
The UN Security Council is expected to renew the UNIFIL forces’ mandate in southern Lebanon for another year by the end of August.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the foreign minister “did not request any amendment to UNIFIL’s mission in the upcoming resolution regarding the freedom of movement of these forces.”