Lebanon condemns Israeli attack on its territory

BEIRUT - The Lebanese Foreign Ministry condemned on Thursday the Israeli attack on villages in southern Lebanon.

More than 15 rockets have been fired toward the border villages of Kfarchouba and Mazraat Halta by Israeli forces on Thursday morning, to retaliate against the firing of two rockets from southern Lebanon by unidentified individuals, according to the Lebanese state-run National News Agency.

The exchange of fire happened after Israel seized the Lebanese part of Ghajar over the weekend, further heightening border tensions.

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry called for "Israel's immediate and unconditional withdrawal from all the Lebanese territories it still occupies." Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged "the United Nations to work to stop the Israeli violations... in the recent period of the Blue Line," a demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel published by the United Nations in 2000 to determine whether Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanon.

Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based armed group and political party, on Thursday called on the Lebanese government and people to act against Israeli violations in Ghajar.

Located along the border between Lebanon and the Israel-occupied Golan Heights, Ghajar, an Alawite-majority village that the Blue Line crosses, was cut off from Lebanon after the Israeli army erected a fence to its north, in violation of UN Resolution 1701.

Apart from occasional tensions in recent months, the Lebanese-Israeli border has largely remained quiet since Israel fought a month-long war with Hezbollah in 2006 - XINHUA