UNIFIL: No Recent Blue Line Crossing between Lebanon and Israel

Irish UN peacekeepers check the site where a UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL convoy came under fire on Wednesday. (AFP via Getty Images)
Irish UN peacekeepers check the site where a UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL convoy came under fire on Wednesday. (AFP via Getty Images)
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UNIFIL: No Recent Blue Line Crossing between Lebanon and Israel

Irish UN peacekeepers check the site where a UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL convoy came under fire on Wednesday. (AFP via Getty Images)
Irish UN peacekeepers check the site where a UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL convoy came under fire on Wednesday. (AFP via Getty Images)

UNIFIL’s spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said on Thursday that no crossing of the Blue Line has been recorded recently between Lebanon and Israel.

Tenenti said the UNIFIL has inspected media reports claiming that a person has trespassed from Lebanon into Israel, according to dpa.

“The UNIFIL did not record any crossing of the Blue Line in the last few days,” Tenenti was quoted as saying in a statement published by Lebanon’s National News Agency on Thursday.

He added that Head of Mission and Force Commander of the UNIFIL Major General Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz urged both sides to exercise self-control and to preserve stability.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army said it killed an armed suspect on Monday entering the country from Lebanon with a suicide vest and that investigations were ongoing to see if he has links to Hezbollah.

The Israeli army said soldiers stopped a car carrying the bombing suspect at a checkpoint Monday shortly after a roadside explosion seriously injured a driver near Megiddo Junction in the country’s north.

The suspect was wearing a suicide vest and had a rifle and a gun when he was stopped near the border with Lebanon. The army said it shot and killed the man and is questioning the driver.

The army said the device exploded at a 90-degree angle, which is unusual for the area. That led officials to suspect that the man infiltrated from Lebanon and may have been linked to Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group.



US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
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US Defers Removal of Some Lebanese, Citing Israel-Hezbollah Tensions

Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)
Smoke billows from a site targeted by Lebanon's Hezbollah, along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon on July 25, 2024, amid ongoing cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters. (AFP)

The United States is deferring the removal of certain Lebanese citizens from the country, President Joe Biden said on Friday, citing humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon amid tensions between Israel and Hezbollah.

The deferred designation, which lasts 18 months, allows Lebanese citizens to remain in the country with the right to work, according to a memorandum Biden sent to the Department of Homeland Security.

"Humanitarian conditions in southern Lebanon have significantly deteriorated due to tensions between Hezbollah and Israel," Biden said in the memo.

"While I remain focused on de-escalating the situation and improving humanitarian conditions, many civilians remain in danger; therefore, I am directing the deferral of removal of certain Lebanese nationals who are present in the United States."

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire since Hezbollah announced a "support front" with Palestinians shortly after its ally Hamas attacked southern Israeli border communities on Oct. 7, triggering Israel's military assault in Gaza.

The fighting in Lebanon has killed more than 100 civilians and more than 300 Hezbollah fighters, according to a Reuters tally, and led to levels of destruction in Lebanese border towns and villages not seen since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war.

On the Israeli side, 10 Israeli civilians, a foreign agricultural worker and 20 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Tens of thousands have been evacuated from both sides of the border.