On Thursday, Israeli troops in tanks and armored personnel carriers were seen moving about along the Abbasiyeh front of Ghajar on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The sound of at least 20 artillery shells could be heard coming from the Golan during the morning drill.

Simultaneously, another group of Israeli soldiers, simulating combat, was setting up ambushes and taking up positions behind earth mounds and sandbags along the eastern sector of the border with south Lebanon. Some soldiers were seen hiding behind trees.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army conducted joint patrols with UN peacekeepers along the Blue Line.

On August 23, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon called on Israeli regime to cease from offensive military action in Lebanon after an Israeli air raid targeted an area south of Beirut earlier in the day.

Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000. However, Israel reoccupied the northern part of Ghajar during the 2006 war with Lebanon.

NTJ/BA