Daily Star - Beirut to appeal to Security Council over abduction by Israel - January 9, 2008

Beirut to appeal to Security Council over abduction by IsraelBy Agence France Presse (AFP)   

BEIRUT: Lebanon is to complain to the United Nations Security Council, accusing Israel of kidnapping a shepherd from inside Lebanese territory, the prime minister's office said on Tuesday. "Prime Minister Fouad Siniora asked the concerned authorities at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry and at Lebanon's delegation to the United Nations to lodge a complaint with the Security Council against Israel," it said in a statement.

The statement said the complaint came after "the kidnapping of Lebanese citizen Fadi Abdel-Aal from the region of Halta," a border area in Southeast Lebanon.

"Investigations have revealed that the kidnapping took place from inside Lebanese territory," it said.

Lebanon says the area belongs to it, but UN cartographers say it is a part of the Syrian Golan Heights, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

On Monday, the Israeli Army said it had detained a man inside Israel after he crossed the border with Lebanon. He was released hours later.

A Lebanese security source told AFP that the Israeli soldiers had "made an incursion of 100 meters into Lebanese territory to abduct the man.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the UN peacekeeping force deployed in Southern Lebanon, said it had been informed of the incident by the Israeli military, and was investigating.

Israeli forces have in the past seized Lebanese shepherds along the border and taken them for questioning over possible links with Hizbullah militants. They are usually released after being questioned.

UNIFIL is tasked with monitoring the cease-fire between Lebanon and Israeli forces following a 34-day war in July-August 2006 in which more than 1,200 Lebanese were killed, mostly civilians. - AFP