Flowing concrete pouring from a building in a factory complex in south Lebanon confirmed that a tunnel found in Israel crossed the Blue Line, UN peacekeepers said, after the Israeli military injected cement to seal up the passageway.
In a statement on Saturday, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said that it had surveyed the premises of an old concrete factory in the southern town of Kfar Kela after observers witnessed liquefied cement flowing from the building.
The statement said the liquid cement had been injected by the Israel military through a shaft drilled on their end of a tunnel that Unifil had previously independently confirmed to be crossing the Blue Line in the same general area.
“Based on this observation, Unifil can confirm that the old concrete factory in Kfar Kela has an opening to the tunnel, which is crossing the Blue Line”, the force said in a statement.
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It added that the peacekeepers were working with the Lebanese Army to “take appropriate steps to address the violation of [UN Security Council] resolution 1701.”
The resolution ended the 34-day 2006 war and designated the area between the Litany River and the Blue Line – the UN observed marker to ensure the withdrawal of Israeli troops after 2000 – as off-limits to armed actors other than the UN and Lebanese military.
The Unifil statement also said that it had carried out a post-blast assessment on a tunnel south of the Lebanese town of Ayta ash Shab which had not previously been reported the UN and had therefore not been independently verified.
“Unifil remains engaged with the parties to ensure that all activities in sensitive areas are duly co-ordinated, the Blue Line is fully respected by both sides, and to help the parties uphold their respective obligations towards the cessation of hostilities under resolution 1701,” the statement said.
