Tenenti Says Dispute between UNIFIL, Civilians ‘Individual’

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon spokesperson Andrea Tenenti denied on Monday that the dispute which took place during the weekend between several Irish contingent troops and civilians, is linked to the incidents that targeted the UNIFIL in the past few years.

“It’s an individual incident, the contingent wasn’t attacked or subjected to any violence,” Tenenti told the pan-Arab daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.

He pointed out that the dispute between the peacekeepers and the civilians in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras on Saturday occurred after a soldier took snapshots of the area.

Tenenti said that Hizbullah didn’t take part in the dispute, stressing that it was with civilians.

He described the general situation in the South as “calm.”

Sources told the daily that U.N. Security Council resolution prevents the UNIFIL peacekeepers from filming or taking photos of neighborhoods in southern towns.

“A young man got enthusiastic and demanded the UNIFIL soldier to hand over his camera, and he cooperated,” the source said.

The Security Council is expected to discuss in August the renewal of the UNIFIL mandate.

UNIFIL was set up in 1978 to monitor the border between Israel and southern Lebanon. It was beefed up and given a wider role after the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah and now numbers some 12,000.