Israeli Army Says No Sign of Infiltration from Lebanon after Heightened Alert

Israeli forces went briefly on high alert near the border with Lebanon on Wednesday evening, closing roads and asking residents to stay indoors, following reports of a suspected infiltration by a number of militants.

“After sending troops to the area, the IDF (Israeli army) Spokesman announced no infiltration has occurred, but asked that residents remained in their homes,” the website of Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported.

“Suspicious figures were identified near the border fence,” the website reported.

It said residents of Manara, Yiftah, Malkia, Dovev and Avivim in the Ramim mountain range area were instructed to stay in their homes, as security squads were called in to the area.

Al-Arabiya television reported that five suspected infiltrators “vanished” the moment the Israeli army arrived at the area.

“All roadways have been reopened and authorities declared that there was no sign of suspicious activity in the area,” Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper reported later on Wednesday.

The alleged incident occurred near Reches Ramim close to the Lebanese border. Israeli security forces patrolled the area to rule out any militant infiltration.

Meanwhile, Lebanon's National News Agency said the Israeli army fired flares over the western part of Lebanon's southern border region and above the sea “from Naqoura to al-Qasmiyeh.”

Israel was already on high alert over a possible retaliation by Hizbullah, after an unprecedented Israeli airstrike on Syria's Quneitra killed six Hizbullah fighters.

The slain operatives included senior commander Mohammed Issa and Jihad Mughniyeh, a son of Hizbullah's top military commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed in a 2008 assassination in Damascus that was blamed on Israel.

Top Iranian general Mohammad Ali Allahdadi was also among the victims of the Quneitra strike on Sunday.

Y.R.