United Nations peacekeepers resumed patrols today in a disputed region near the Lebanese-Israeli border, a day after being obstructed by angry residents and Hezbollah militants.
"We have been informed yesterday evening by the Lebanese army command that UNIFIL peacekeepers could resume patrols on all areas within their operation field, including the tension zone," Timor Goksel, spokesman of the UN Interim Forces in southern Lebanon, told AFP.
Residents told AFP that the incident was resolved after an overnight deal between the UNIFIL, the residents, the Lebanese army and the Shiite movement Hezbollah.
They said the UNIFIL had agreed to patrol the disputed part of the border zone, without setting up fixed positions there.
Mr Goksel did not mention any conditions and only said: "the Lebanese army made a decisive ruling on the matter."
UNIFIL peacekeepers were seen patrolling the border area on today, an AFP correspondent said.
On Sunday, Hezbollah militants and local civilians prevented UNIFIL from approaching the village of Kfarshouba, near the Israeli-Lebanese border, saying UN troops would not be allowed to patrol the sector as long as two pre-fabricated monitoring posts erected by UNIFIL peacekeepers near the Hassan gate on the border had not been removed.
On Friday, local villagers and Hezbollah militants had interrupted UN troops as they were setting up the two posts located near the Shebaa Farms, a disputed area captured by Israel from Syria in 1967 and now claimed by Lebanon.
Kfarshouba residents told peacekeepers Friday they feared that the post would bolster the so-called blue line mapped out by the UN after the Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000.
AFP