The Turkish Parliament voted Friday to extend its troops' mission in Lebanon under U.N. peacekeeping mission UNIFIL by one year.

The extension is the sixth since Turkey initially approved the mission in September 2006. It takes effect from September this year.

A Lebanese army team in cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon set demarcation points in the border town of Kfarkila to prevent Israel from infringing on Lebanese territories, An Nahar daily reported Friday.

The newspaper said that the move was aimed at preventing the Israeli army from encroaching on Lebanese land while constructing a one-kilometer-long separation wall.

A March 8 coalition leader has recently told U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly that the world body should help Lebanon in the investigation of an arms ship intercepted by the Lebanese army to save its reputation, As Safir daily reported on Saturday.

The newspaper said the March 8 leader asked Plumbly how the ship was able to enter Lebanon’s territorial waters despite all the measures taken by UNIFIL’s naval unit.

An Israeli military unit crossed on Friday the Blue Line near the area of al-Shahil in Shebaa.

Al-Manar television reported that a shepherd in the area escaped a kidnapping attempt by Israeli troops.

Israeli troops on Thursday crossed the Blue Line while constructing the border wall that they started building on April 30, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the forces crossed 65 centimeters into Lebanese territory near Kfar Kila as they were attempting to expand the border wall beyond the measurements that had been agreed upon.

The Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Paolo Serra, chaired on Wednesday a tripartite meeting with senior officials from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at the U.N. position at Ras al-Naqoura, announced UNIFIL in a statement.

“It was a special tripartite meeting called at the initiative of the force commander and with the agreement of the representatives of the parties to discuss the security situation in the Shabaa Farms area following the Israeli army’s decision to construct a patrol road,” it said.

A new spokesperson for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been appointed, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.

According to the daily, the Italian assistant UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti has succeeded India’s Neeraj Singh.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has expressed serious concern over the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on the security and political situation in Lebanon.

In his semi-annual report on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, Ban condemned the violence along the Lebanese-Syrian border which has inflicted scores of casualties.

President Michel Suleiman credited on Friday Italy for being among the major contributing countries in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, reported Italy’s AKI news agency.

He told the news agency that he hopes that collaboration between Lebanon and Italy would be bolstered in the future.

Head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Major-General Paolo Serra stressed on Wednesday the importance of marking the Blue Line which is an “essential task of the UNIFIL’s mandate.”

“Completing the process will reduce the potential for incidents and tensions in the area,” Serra said during a ceremony marking the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.