An investigation into the shooting of a Syrian national by IDF troops after he infiltrated into Israeli territory near Mount Dov on Sunday has been completed by a joint Lebanese and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
According to Lebanon’s National News Agency, the probe of the shooting will be submitted during the upcoming tripartite meeting chaired by UNIFIL.
Also on Tuesday, UNIFIL troops visited the location where IDF troops opened fire on a Syrian national identified by Lebanese media as Mohammed Noureddine Abdul Azim after he infiltrated into Israeli territory near Mount Dov on Sunday.
Azim was flown to Rambam Hospital in Haifa with multiple gunshot wounds and has been treated by medical staff for his injuries.
While Lebanese media said that he had been shot while in Lebanon as his animals were grazing nearby, the IDF said he crossed some 100 meters into Israel near Mount Dov, also known as Sheeba Farms.
Sheeba Farms, captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, is a contested area along the border that is claimed by Israel, Lebanon and Syria.
According to Channel 12 news, troops from the IDF’s Golani brigade deployed to the area identified Azim crossing the border and fired warning shots in the air to stop him. Instead of returning to Lebanon, Azim began to run and hid between rocks. A soldier then saw him put his hand into his pocket and fearing he was drawing weapon, fired upon him.
Just days before the incident on Mount Dov, a senior IDF officer stationed in the area told The Jerusalem Post that many shepherds in the area are known to collect intelligence on troop movement.
The officer said that the IDF has identified several locations along the Golan Heights where they know Hezbollah collects intelligence on Israel and warned that “whoever crosses the demilitarized zone into Israel is considered a threat and the IDF will respond accordingly.”
The incident came just days after UNIFIL, the IDF and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) held its first Tripartite meeting since the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The meeting, chaired by Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col, “focused on the situation along the Blue Line, air and ground violations as well as other issues within the scope of UNIFIL’s mandate under UN Security Council resolution 1701,” read a UNIFIL press release.
The meeting also touched on the tensions along the border which have risen in recent weeks following several clashes between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group.
“As we all fight the COVID-19 pandemic as a priority, we must not lose sight of the imperative to maintain calm and stability along the Blue Line,” Del Col said during the tripartite meeting on Thursday. “As recent incidents along the Blue Line demonstrate, misunderstandings leading to unwanted escalation in tensions can still occur even during a time when our attention is elsewhere.”
On April 14 a tense standoff between IDF and LAF troops took place along the border fence, after Israeli troops crossed into the buffer zone between the two countries to trim trees that, according to a recent report by The Washington Institute, had been planted by the Hezbollah affiliated Lebanese NGO Green Without Borders to obscure cameras placed on the Israeli side of the border fence.
The tense standoff near the Israeli town of Metulla was brought to an end by UNIFIL peacekeepers who ultimately trimmed the trees themselves.
Three days later and following an airstrike blamed on Israel targeting a Jeep in Syria believed to belong to Hezbollah, IDF troops discovered three breaches along the security fence near the communities of Avivim, Yiftah and Metulla believed to have been made by Hezbollah.