Israeli troops shot two people on the Lebanon-Israel border on Friday, the first anniversary of Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon after a 22-year-long military occupation, said reports.
Witnesses said Israeli troops shot a 24-year-old Palestinian, Muhammad Al Asadi, in the knee after he scaled a guard post on the Lebanese side of the Abbad border point.
A 14-year-old Lebanese boy, Bassam Fawaz Jaafar, was taken to hospital later after being injured by bullet fragments when Israeli troops at Abbad opened fire again later, Lebanese security sources told Reuters.
Israel has stepped up security precautions for fear of attacks by the Lebanese Hizbollah movement to mark the anniversary of its withdrawal.
Witnesses near another border point said a group of people tore down part of the fence marking the border and stepped across it from Lebanon, raising Lebanese and Hizbollah flags.
The United Nations has repeatedly asked Lebanon to deploy its troops along the border, where people gather to taunt Israeli troops and throw stones at them.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in sprawling refugee camps in Lebanon, and an eight-month-long uprising against Israeli occupation in Gaza and the West Bank has aroused strong feelings among the refugees.
Israeli troops shot two Lebanese youths throwing stones at their positions at another border point last Friday.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Lebanon David Satterfield urged calm along the border, reported the Daily Star newspaper.
“All parties need to do everything possible both by action and in words, to reduce the level of tension,” Satterfield told reporters after meeting Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri to discuss the results of the Mitchell Commission on violence in the Palestinian territories.
“We do not believe that the current level of anxiety over threats of a regional conflict or war is justified. All sides should be working to bring down the level of tension...and to reduce escalation.”
Asked if he thought that Israel’s threats of retaliation would have an adverse effect on Lebanon’s ailing economy, Satterfield said: “We are optimistic, about the potential for Lebanon to have a prosperous economy and to attract investments.
“Obviously,” he told the paper, “these kinds of measures work best in a regional atmosphere and in a context which is peaceful and calm and stable, and that’s very much what we hope will prevail.” – Albawaba.com
