Israel Stages Military Exercises along Border with Lebanon

The Israeli army staged at dawn on Wednesday military drills in the occupied Shebaa Farms and boosted security along the border with Lebanon.

According to the state-run National News Agency, Israeli drones flew over the Shebaa farms during the military exercises.

The NNA said that explosions heard at dawn were caused by the Israeli army.

Israeli army also boosted security along its norther border near the southern town of Abbasiyeh and the Kfarshouba Hills.

NNA later reported that an Israeli unit of 13 soldiers crossed the Blue Line, entering 15 meters into the region of Aita al-Shaab.

The army later issued a communique saying that “Israeli paratroopers, comprised of 13 soldiers, infiltrated 20 meters into the Lebanese territories at 8:55a.m.”

“The Lebanese army directly undertook the necessary defense measures,” the army command said in its statement.

According to the statement, “the Israeli patrol withdrew at 9:30 a.m.”

“The matter is being followed up in coordination with the UNIFIL.”

Israel is closely watching its northern border with Syria and Lebanon as the embattled regime of President Bashar Assad has reportedly considered supplying chemical weapons to Hizbullah.

Tensions also remain high over the prospect of Hizbullah retaliation to an Israeli air raid on the Lebanese-Syrian border in February, the first reported Israeli strike on one of its posts since a devastating 2006 summer war between the arch-foes.

Hizbullah fighters, who fought a bloody war with Israel in 2006, are now fighting alongside the Syrian army against rebels seeking to overthrow the Damascus regime.