Hizballebanon Update. “Lebanese civilians hurt 14 UNIFIL troops,” from the Jerusalem Post, July 18:
Villagers in southern Lebanon on Saturday prevented UN peacekeepers from searching an abandoned building near a suspected Hizbullah weapons depot that exploded last week, a Lebanese security official said.
The official said dozens of men in Bir e-Salasel surrounded UNIFIL vehicles on Saturday and ordered the peacekeepers to leave.
Fourteen UNIFIL men were wounded when some 100 locals attacked them, Israel Radio reported. When the troops called for backup, the villagers fired at the reinforcements.
The village is close to Khirbat a-Silm, the site of Tuesday’s explosion in an abandoned building about 15 km. from Israel.
UN peacekeepers had no immediate comment on the incident in the Nabatiya governate, and Hizbullah has remained silent since the explosion.
Earlier, UNIFIL boosted its forces along the Israeli border, hours after 15 Lebanese civilians carrying Lebanese and Hizbullah flags crossed into Israel.
The group, which included several children, entered Israel in an area where there is no border fence, and returned to Lebanon after several minutes.
IDF soldiers spotted the group, and seeing it was unarmed, decided not to take action.
Nonetheless, the army stressed that the incident was a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War….