Israeli troops Wednesday removed a Lebanese flag that was raised one day earlier on a newly-erected barbed wire fence as part of Israel's plan to build new military roads on occupied territory. Local media reports said that Israeli soldiers returned to the area where a protest was held Tuesday to remove the flag, defying calls by local residents to remove the fence. Israeli soldiers last week began carving out an 8-meter-wide military route in an area between Shebaa and Kfar Shuba – roughly 50 meters away from a Lebanese Army outpost on the southeastern border. A barbed wire fence was erected Monday along an area stretching from the occupied portion of the Shebaa Farms to Jabal al-Seddaneh, on the edges of Kfar Shuba. Hundreds of ancient trees that straddled the border between Lebanon and Israel were uprooted in the process, according to residents, who vowed Tuesday to dismantle the fence. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Wednesday he would not tolerate "the new Israeli assault on Shebaa," revealing that he contacted U.N. Special Coordinator in Lebanon Sigrid Kaag to alert her to the violations, lawmakers who visited Berri cited him as saying. He also discussed the matter with UNIFIL chief Brig. Gen. Luciano Portolano in a separate meeting Wednesday. According to security sources, Portolano traveled to Safed last week to protest road works along the border in the Shebaa region with the head of the Israeli army's Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Aviv Khochavi.
