Israeli troops fire tear gas at border protesters

ISRAELI soldiers have fired tear gas to disperse scores of protesters who pelted troops with stones along the border with Lebanon, leaving some demonstrators and troops suffering breathing problems.

The tension on the edge of the Lebanese border village of Kfar Chouba began earlier this week over the Israeli military digging in an area that Lebanon claims.

On Wednesday, a Lebanese villager tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from digging a trench along the border.

When the villager’s legs were covered with sand as the bulldozer moved ahead, UN peacekeepers jumped in and convinced the driver to move back. Videos of the elderly man with his legs stuck in the sand went viral on social media.

Israel ended an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon when its troops withdrew from the area in May 2000.

Yesterday’s protest took place on the edge of Kfar Chouba hills, which Beirut says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. Kfar Chouba hills and the nearby Chebaa Farms were areas captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War and claimed by Lebanon.

Some of the protesters tried to break through a fence in the rugged area overlooked by an Israeli military post. Israeli forces fired tear gas to disperse them while Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers later moved in and pushed the protesters back.

“Do not cross the blue line,” read a banner carried by a UN peacekeeper in Arabic, English and French, referring to the border drawn after Israel’s withdrawal in 2000.

In a statement, the Israeli military said protesters tried to damage a border barrier and threw stones at Israeli soldiers in the area.