Locals from the town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon intercepted on Wednesday a patrol of the United National Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The incident took place just days before the UN Security Council is set to renew the peacekeeping force’s mandate in the South – a Hezbollah stronghold.
Security sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that a three-vehicle convoy of the Irish UNIFIL contingent was intercepted as it was making its way from Beirut to its headquarters in the eastern sector in the South.
It veered off from the usual route taken by UNIFIL vehicles and instead took a side road, prompting locals to intervene.
The sources blamed the reroute to a GPS error.
The army was forced to intervene to contain the tensions.
The incident took place at the Wadi al-Namira-Sharqiya-al-Doueir road that leads to Nabatiyeh.
The National News Agency said the incident happened overnight on Tuesday and the locals spotted the UNIFIL members taking photographs of the area.
Such incidents are common in the South when UNIFIL convoys take side roads or veer off their usual course. They are also common before the Security Council meets to extend the force’s mandate that usually happens during the last week of every August.
Lebanon is seeking an extension of the mandate without introducing amendments to it.
UNIFIL has been operating in the South according to Security Council resolution 1701 that was issued in 2006 to end the July war between Israel and Hezbollah.
The UN mission was initially deployed to the South in the late 1970s amid tensions with Israel.
Resolution 1701 allowed the Lebanese military to deploy in the South for the first time in over two decades.
Former President Michel Suleiman, who was army commander during the 2006 war, urged on Wednesday the adoption “as soon as possible” of a defense strategy that limits the possession of weapons to the military.
