An explosion near Lebanon’s border with Israel slightly wounded at least three members of the militant Hezbollah group, a Lebanese security official said.
The three Hezbollah members were taken to a hospital near the scene of the explosion in the village Bustan in the southern Lebanese province of Bustan, the official said on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
The Israeli army said in a statement that several suspects approached a security fence and attempted to sabotage it, drawing efforts by soldiers to force them to retreat. It posted surveillance footage showing four people in civilian clothing approaching the border fence, and running away after an explosion. The identity of the suspects is unknown, it said.
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The Israeli army later told The Associated Press that soldiers had used a stun grenade.
The incident took place hours before Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was scheduled to speak to commemorate the start of a monthlong war between Israel and the militant group in 2006 that ended with a draw.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the army “deterred activists with nonlethal means.”
Three militant members of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group were injured in an explosion near the Israeli border.
“Anyone who tries us will get an answer,” Gallant said. “We have a lot to do and we will know how to do what is needed at the right time.”
U.N. peacekeeping forces along the southern Lebanese border, known as UNIFIL, said they were investigating the situation. “In the meantime, the situation is extremely severe,” UNIFIL said. “We urge everyone to cease any action that may lead to escalation of any kind.”
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Hezbollah had no immediate comment on the incident.
Lebanese officials said that Israel in recent weeks has built a wall around the Lebanese part of Ghajar, a border town that straddles the tiny Mediterranean country and Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights. Lebanon’s foreign minister asked the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations to file a complaint on the matter.
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Israel meanwhile in June filed a complaint with the U.N. claiming that Hezbollah had set up tents several dozen yards within Israeli territory. It’s unclear what the tents were used for and what was inside them. They were erected in Chebaa Farms and the Kfar Chouba hills, which Israeli captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981, though Lebanon claims the area belongs to them.
Israel considers Hezbollah its most serious immediate threat, and estimates that it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
