Israeli army makes incursion into Wadi al-Hujeir, nabs citizen and forces residents to flee
Israeli forces on Thursday made an incursion into the southern areas of al-Qantara, Adsheet al-Qusayr and Wadi al-Hujeir in violation of the ceasefire agreement, the Lebanese Army said.
“The Israeli enemy is pressing on with its violation of the ceasefire agreement, attacks on Lebanon’s sovereignty and citizens, and destruction of southern villages and towns,” the army said.
It added that it has since reinforced its deployment in the aforementioned areas whole continuing to “follow up on the situation in coordination with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon and the five-party ceasefire monitoring committee (Mechanism).”
The advancing Israeli forces fired heavy-caliber machineguns in the region and forced the residents of the town of al-Qantara to flee it toward al-Ghandouriyeh and Srifa, the National News Agency said.
They also abducted Lebanese citizen Hossam Fawwaz as he was heading toward his workplace at the UNIFIL Indonesian contingent in the Marjayoun town of Adsheet al-Qusayr.
Fawwaz was later handed over to UNIFIL and the Lebanese Red Cross. He was then transported in a Lebanese Army ambulance to receive treatment for a gunshot wound to the head.
The developments prompted the Lebanese Army to close the road leading from its post in Qaaqaaiyet al-Jisr to Wadi al-Hujeir, as Israeli Merkava tanks roamed the valley amid Israeli machinegun fire.
The Majdal Selm Municipality meanwhile urged citizens not to take the Slouqi-Hujeir road toward Nabatieh, including the sideroads of the town of Qabrikha.
A UNIFIL patrol later headed to the al-Qantara intersection, where an Israeli force was deployed.
The National News Agency later said that Israeli bulldozers were setting up dirt barricades that would close off the road between Wadi Slouqi and Wadi al-Hujeir.
Caretaker Labor Minister Mustafa Bayram of Hezbollah commented on the incidents in a social media post, saying there should be a "historic lesson and inevitable conclusion that the only choice and solution is resistance amid the disastrous failure of all other solutions."
Hezbollah lawmaker Ali Fayyad for his part decried the incursion in a statement as an "extremely dangerous" development that poses "a serious risk" to the implementation of Resolution 1701.
