Aoun Condemns Israeli Shooting at Demonstrators on Lebanon Border
President Michel Aoun condemned what he called "a crime committed by Israeli forces" after Israeli fire struck a group of protesters on the southern Lebanese border killing a man, the Presidency said on Twitter.
“Aoun condemned the crime committed by the Israeli forces by shooting a group of youths who demonstrated at the southern borders in protest against the aggression in Gaza, which led to the death of the young man, Mohammed Tahan, and the wounding of another,” said the Presidency.
It added that Aoun had asked caretaker “Minister of Foreign Affairs to inform the United Nations of the attack in preparation for taking the necessary steps.”
A young Lebanese man struck by Israeli fire on Friday while protesting on the border against the Jewish state's assault on the Gaza Strip died of his wounds, state media reported.
Meanwhile the United Nations peacekeeping force in the border region, UNIFIL, called for "everyone to remain calm and avoid risking more lives".
Hizbullah said the man, whom it named as Mohammed Kassem Tahan, was a member of the pro-Iranian group who was taking part in a demonstration.
The 21-year-old protester was one of two men who suffered wounds from Israeli shelling during the protest on the frontier, the official National News Agency said.
The incident occurred after a number of "young demonstrators tried to enter the border town of Metulla" in northern Israel, said NNA.
The Lebanese army intervened to remove the dozens of young demonstrators from the scene.
The protesters, some carrying Palestinian flags and the yellow colors of Hizbullah-- arch-enemy of Israel -- had gathered in the Khiam plain opposite Metulla, an AFP photographer said.
They later set fire to the area, with the flames spreading all the way to the border, he said.
The Israeli army confirmed on Twitter its tanks had "fired warning shots at a number of rioters... who had crossed into Israeli territory".
They "sabotaged the fence and set fire to it... before returning to Lebanese territory", it added.
Tensions remained high late Friday as two Palestinians tried to cross the barbed-wire border fence, before being repelled by Israeli fire, NNA said.
The army fired flares over the nearby Lebanese village of Kfarkila.
On Thursday, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh toward Israel, a Lebanese military source said.
Israel's army said the rockets landed in the sea.
A source close to Hizbullah said the group had no link to that incident.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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