Lebanese Army Says It Exchanged Smoke-bomb Fire with Israel

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
TT

Lebanese Army Says It Exchanged Smoke-bomb Fire with Israel

Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)
Border fence between Lebanon and Israel (AFP)

Lebanon's army said on Wednesday it had exchanged smoke bombs with Israeli troops at the border, the second such incident in a week.

The Lebanese army, in an online statement, said Israeli troops had fired smoke bombs at a Lebanese patrol that was accompanying workers removing "infringements" that the army said had been set up by the Israelis north of the Blue Line.

Lebanese army troops "responded by firing smoke bombs toward enemy troops," the statement said.

The current demarcation line between the two countries is known as the Blue Line, a frontier mapped by the United Nations that marks the line to which Israeli forces withdrew when they left south Lebanon in 2000.

The Israeli military said it used "riot dispersal means" against the Lebanese army "in the area of the Blue Line" and that Lebanese troops fired tear gas grenades. It said no Israeli soldiers were reported injured.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, UNIFIL, said it was "fully engaged with the parties to de-escalate the situation".

Tensions flared along the frontier this summer, with rockets fired at Israel during flare-ups of Israeli-Palestinian violence, and members of the heavily armed Lebanese group Hezbollah or its supporters facing off with Israeli forces.

Wednesday's was the second such incident in a week after the troops exchanged tear gas and smoke bombs over a similar dispute at the Blue Line. 



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
TT

France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.