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Israeli troops entered the southern Lebanese village of Zawtar al-Gharbiya overnight Friday and built an earthen barrier near the town square, despite the village being under Lebanese army control as part of a U.S.-sponsored framework agreement, Lebanese officials and state media said.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Saturday that an Israeli force advanced into the village shortly after midnight and erected the barrier.
An Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondent reportedly saw the barrier at the village’s eastern entrance. Local authorities said it remained unclear whether Israeli forces were still present in the area.
Zawtar al-Gharbiya is one of two designated “pilot zones” where the Lebanese army was expected to assume control under a framework agreement signed with Israel in June following Israel’s invasion and occupation of southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese army deployed to Zawtar al-Gharbiya on July 21, and about 50 families have since returned to the village, Mayor Abed Ezzeddine told AFP.
Israeli troops had remained on the outskirts of the village before the Lebanese deployment.
Ezzeddine said residents were surprised Saturday morning to find the new barrier about 100 meters from the town square.
A Lebanese military source confirmed the incident to AFP and described it as a violation of the framework agreement.
Under the June agreement, Lebanon is expected to disarm Hezbollah, while Israel is supposed to gradually withdraw its forces.
Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group, entered the wider Middle East conflict by launching rockets at Israel, which responded with a broad bombing campaign and ground invasion.
Israeli forces have killed more than 4,300 people, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, and displaced hundreds of thousands.
The incident came after Lebanon and Israel completed their seventh round of direct negotiations in Rome on Thursday.
A Lebanese source told AFP that Israeli negotiators refused to discuss withdrawing from additional areas until they were satisfied that Lebanon’s military had established full control over the pilot zones.
Hezbollah rejects the agreement and has refused to surrender its weapons.
Israel, meanwhile, continues to carry out intermittent strikes in southern Lebanon despite a ceasefire that has been in place since June.
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