Hezbollah members wounded in Lebanon-Israel border explosion

Several members of Lebanon's powerful armed Hezbollah group were wounded on Wednesday in a flare-up on the southern border with Israel, a Lebanese security source and a source briefed on the developments told Reuters.

The incident took place on the 17th anniversary of the start of a month-long war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and around 160 Israelis, most of them troops fighting Hezbollah inside Lebanon.

There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah's media office on Wednesday. The Israeli military said it used "a non-lethal weapon" to distance "a number of suspects" attempting to damage the security fence with Lebanon to the north.

The Arabic spokesperson for the Israeli military Avichay Adraee published a video on Twitter allegedly showing the incident.

#عاجل اقترب عدد من المشتبه فيهم في وقت سابق من اليوم الى السياج الأمني على الحدود مع لبنان وحاولوا المساس في منطقة العائق الأمني حيث رصدتهم قوات جيش الدفاع مباشرة واستخدمت وسائل لإبعادهم.هوية المشتبه فيهم غير معروفة.
سنواصل العمل لمنع أي خرق لسيادة إسرائيل والمساس بالسياج الحدودي pic.twitter.com/rpPEzuKf1Y

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) July 12, 2023

The Lebanese source briefed on developments in the south described the incident as an attack and said several Hezbollah members had been wounded, but could not immediately provide more details.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) told Reuters it was aware of "disturbing reports about an incident along the Blue Line," urging all sides to refrain from escalating given the situation was "extremely sensitive."

One Lebanese security source said a grenade fired by Israeli forces had wounded three people believed to be members of Hezbollah. Another said Israeli troops had fired a grenade at a group of Hezbollah members on the border, wounding three people.

Israel's public broadcaster Kan said a group of Hezbollah members had set a fire at the border, setting off landmines, and that Israeli troops had fired warning shots during the incident.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was due to make a televised address to commemorate the 2006 war.

Lebanon last year delineated its maritime frontier with Israel through U.S.-mediated talks, but the land border remains disputed and tensions have risen in recent weeks.

Last week, rockets fired from south Lebanon prompted cross-border strikes by Israel's military.

Lebanon's foreign ministry this week said it would file a complaint to the United Nations in New York over what it described as Israel's "annexation" of the northern part of Ghajar, a village straddling the Israel-Lebanon border.

Lebanon considers it part of its territory, but Ghajar's residents assert an allegiance to Syria.

(Reuters)