UNIFIL in contact with Lebanon, Israel over Hezbollah tents in disputed area

Beirut, July 4 The chief of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is in contact with officials in Lebanon and Israel over two tents set up by Lebanon's Hezbollah in a disputed area, the deputy director of UNIFIL Media Office said.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad said on Saturday that the tents are inside Lebanon, but Israel filed a complaint with the United Nations in June, claiming that the tents were erected inside Israeli territory.

The tents were set up in Chebaa Farms and Kfar Chouba hills which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 but have been claimed by Lebanon, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UNIFIL chief Aroldo Lazaro Saenz "continues to be in direct contact with authorities on both sides of the Blue Line to resolve the situation of the tents," the National News Agency quoted an UNIFIL statement as saying on Monday.

"We are looking into reports that a tent has been moved north of the Blue Line," UNIFIL said, adding any unauthorised presence or activity "near the Blue Line is a concern and can potentially increase tension and misunderstandings".

The Blue Line is a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel as well as Lebanon and the Golan Heights published by the United Nations in 2000 for the purposes of determining whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.

Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon, fought a month-long war in 2006 that ended in a UN-sponsored cease-fire.