Tension prevailed in the town of Al-Ahmadiyah in West Bekaa, following a field tour by a mechanized patrol of “UNIFIL” forces inside the town, without prior coordination with the Lebanese army or the residents of the area.
Information indicates that the patrol entered a residential neighborhood while a wake was being held, which led to a dispute between the patrol and a number of residents, who asked them to stop the tour until the Lebanese army arrived. During the tension, members of “UNIFIL” threw smoke bombs, described as poisonous, causing cases of suffocation and poisoning among citizens.
Two citizens suffered severe suffocation and were immediately taken to the West Bekaa Hospital for treatment. Units of the Lebanese army arrived at the scene, worked to contain the situation, calm the situation and prevent its escalation.
The residents of the town demanded that the competent security forces open an investigation into the circumstances of the incident, and follow up on the issue through the relevant legal and official channels, in order to ensure the safety of citizens and avoid the recurrence of such incidents.
This incident comes in a broader context related to the tasks and forces of “UNIFIL” in Lebanon, especially with regard to carrying out patrols in populated areas, where skirmishes occur from time to time with local residents, especially in the environment surrounding “Hezbollah.”
The past months have witnessed similar incidents in a number of southern villages, represented by the interception of international patrols, or preventing them from passing through secondary roads, or the occurrence of field tensions before the Lebanese army intervened to contain the situation.
These problems often reflect a discrepancy between the vision of “UNIFIL,” which relies on freedom of movement within its tasks, and the field reality, which demands prior coordination and respect for security and social specificities, given the high sensitivity surrounding any foreign presence inside residential neighborhoods.
