The Lebanese Army announced today, Wednesday, that it exchanged smoke grenades with Israeli forces at the border, marking the second incident of its kind within a week. It clarified in a statement that "the Israeli forces launched smoke grenades at one of its patrols" while escorting a bulldozer that was removing encroachments built by the Israeli army north of the withdrawal line (the contested Blue Line) in the Bastra area of the south.
The statement noted that the Lebanese army responded by "launching smoke grenades towards the enemy's elements." For its part, the Israeli army indicated that it "used 'means to disperse rioters' against the Lebanese army 'in the Blue Line area'" and that Lebanese forces fired tear gas grenades. It added that there were no reports of injuries among Israeli soldiers.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed that it "is fully working with both parties to de-escalate the situation." Reporter Ali Shoeib from Al-Manar TV stated via his account on the platform "X" that "after blocking the Israeli military route with rocks due to its passage through the liberated land of Wadi Fashkoul despite the enemy's use of smoke grenades, the Lebanese army forced the enemy to remove the fourth encroachment at the Kafou farm gate."
