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Shots fired along the Israel-Lebanon border, U.N. says

Posted at 4:01 PM, Dec 15, 2013
and last updated 2013-12-15 18:01:42-05
From Nick Paton Walsh and Michael Schwartz

CNN

(CNN) — A “serious shooting incident” is taking place along the Israel-Lebanon border, Andrea Treneti, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, said Sunday.

It was not immediately clear whether anyone had been injured or killed.

It was also not clear who was shooting at whom, Treneti said. Commanders from both sides were talking to the head of the UNIFIL mission to establish what happened.

“We are urging restraint,” the spokesman said.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces said that shots were fired late Sunday at a civilian vehicle traveling along the border, near Rosh Hanikra.

The sniper is a member of the Lebanese Armed Forces, the statement read, adding that an investigation of the incident is under way.

According to the Lebanese National News Agency, army troops opened fire on Israeli soldiers near the border.

UNIFIL has been in southern Lebanon since a 1978 conflict with Israel.

After the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, the peacekeepers’ mandate was expanded to include helping Lebanon keep the country’s south “free of any armed personnel, assets and weapons” other than government troops.

Cross-border fire has been rare since the Israel-Hezbollah war.

In late August, the Israeli air force conducted a strike in Lebanon between Beirut and Sidon, a day after rockets struck northern Israel, according to the IDF. There were no casualties.

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