Lebanese and Israeli troops fire tear gas along the tense border in a disputed area
BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese army said troops fired tear gas at Israeli soldiers in a disputed area along the tense border Saturday. No one was hurt in the incident.
The area where the incident occurred is in Chebaa Farms and the Kfar Chouba hills that were captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and are part of Syria’s Golan Heights that Israel annexed in 1981. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.
The Lebanese army said a bulldozer was working on the Lebanese side of the border to remove a sand barrier placed earlier by the Israelis when Israeli troops fired tear gas to force it to stop. The army said Lebanese troops responded by firing tear gas at the Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said soldiers spotted an engineering vehicle’s shovel crossing the border line from Lebanon into Israeli territory in the area of Mount Dov, as Chebaa Farms are known in Israel. It added that in response, Israeli soldiers used “riot dispersal means” and the vehicle returned to Lebanese territory.
The Lebanon-Israel border has been relatively calm since Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006. Despite that, there have been tensions.
In April, Israel launched rare airstrikes in southern Lebanon after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from Lebanon at Israel, wounding two people and causing property damage.
In July, Israeli forces shelled a southern Lebanese border village after several explosions were heard in a disputed area where the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Israel meet.
