The United Nations mission urges Lebanon and Israel to avoid escalation after the border clash

BEIRUT, July 13 (IANS) The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has urged Lebanon and Israel to stop any action that could lead to an escalation in southern Lebanon, just hours after three Hezbollah members were hit by an Israeli drone. Attack near the two countries’ borders.

“The situation is very sensitive right now,” Candice Ardel, UNIFIL’s deputy director of information office, said in a statement on Wednesday carried by the national news agency.

Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli drone attacked members of Hezbollah as they were setting up a watchtower on the outskirts of the southern border town of Yarin in Lebanon, injuring three of them, the news site Al-Nashra reported.

According to the New China News Agency (Xinhua), Israel said that it had thwarted an attempt by several Lebanese to destroy the border fence between the two countries.

“The UN peacekeeping mission is aware of the disturbing reports of an incident along the Blue Line, and we are monitoring the situation,” Ardel added.

The Blue Line is a dividing line between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations in 2000 to determine whether Israel has withdrawn completely from Lebanon.

The Lebanese-Israeli border has witnessed increased tension recently due to two tents erected by Hezbollah, which Israel claimed were built on its lands.

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed armed group in Lebanon, fought a month-long war in 2006 that ended in a UN-sponsored truce.

– Jans

int/khz