Israeli army violates Blue Line as it builds border wall

Israeli troops exceeded the Blue Line Thursday by some 65 centimeters as they were carrying on border wall building works in the vicinity of Fatima Gate in Kafr Kila.        

National News Agency correspondent reported today that Israeli forces carried cement walls as part of underway works to erect the 6-meter-high separation wall along the border with Lebanon.         

Israeli soldiers even tried to extend the wall to non-consented limits, as noticed by officers from the Lebanese Armed Forces.        

The breach prompted the Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Paolo Serra, to visit the site and contact the coordination team present on the Israeli side.        

He deemed such move as "a blatant violation."       

Construction works stopped later for about an hour.        

Israel began construction of the separation wall Monday. Four-high-meter concrete blocks, topped by fencing and barbed wire, are to replace the fence currently in use.        

Israeli officials say the wall, stretching from the former Jidar al-Tayyib Gate to the Fatima Gate crossing, is intended to protect residents of the border town of Metulla off Kafr Kila.