Lebanese shepherd held by Israel released: UNIFIL

By Naim Berjawi

BEIRUT (AA) – A Lebanese shepherd held by Israel was released, the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said on Saturday.

"Israel released a Lebanese shepherd a day after he was detained from the Shebaa border area in southern Lebanon," UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said in statements cited by the Lebanese News Agency.

Tenenti said "a team from the UNIFIL coordinated the shepherd’s return to Ras Al-Naqoura (southern Lebanon).”

On Friday, the Lebanese army said in a statement that “a patrol of the Israeli enemy kidnapped the shepherd, Muhammad Imad Atwi, from the Shebaa area, and took him into the occupied Palestinian territories."

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee confirmed the arrest in a Twitter post, saying the shepherd crossed the Blue Line into Israeli territory in the Ross Mountain area.

The Blue Line is a borderline set by the United Nations to determine the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in 2000. The line, however, does not strictly observe the official borders.

In the past few months, citizens have repeatedly been arrested for crossing the Israeli-Lebanese border but were in most cases released within days of their arrest.

Israel still occupies Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms and the Kafr Shuba hills. A Security Council resolution was issued in 1978 calling for Israeli withdrawal but it has not been implemented to date.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar