Lebanon to lodge UN complaint against Israel for abducting citizen

Lebanon’s government has announced that it will submit a complaint to the United Nations Security Council concerning the recent Israeli abduction of a Lebanese citizen north of the capital Beirut, amid Israel’s intensified aggression against the Hezbollah resistance movement.

The Lebanese citizen was kidnapped in a suspected Israeli naval operation in Batroun, about 30 kilometers north of Beirut, with the illegal entity claiming that the abductee was a “senior operative” of Hezbollah.

Lebanese authorities stressed that the individual, who was not named in reports, was a sea captain and rejected that he was a Hezbollah member.

A statement by Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s office said the premier had instructed his Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib to file a UN complaint over the abduction.

The statement said Mikati contacted Israel’s occupation army commander General Joseph Aoun to be briefed on the ongoing investigation into the circumstances of the case.

Mikati also contacted the command of the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL), which confirmed that it is conducting the necessary investigations and coordinating with the army on this matter, the statement added.

The Lebanese prime minister underscored the need to “expedite the investigations to clarify the circumstances of this case and to set matters right.”

The Lebanese National News agency (NNA) said an “unidentified military force” carried out a “sea landing” on the shore of Batroun, south of Tripoli, at dawn on Friday.

An acquaintance of the abductee identified him as a student at the state-run Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun, Lebanon’s primary training college for the shipping industry.

However, the Israeli military claimed that “a senior operative of Hezbollah, who serves as an expert in his field, was apprehended.”

“The operative has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated.”

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Fortified by the Hezbollah, the Christian-majority city of Batroun has been less affected by Israel’s months-long bombardment of southern Lebanon than the other areas such as the southern suburbs of Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Hezbollah opened a support front for Palestinians in Gaza only a day after the Israeli regime unleashed a genocidal war against the besieged territory on October 7, 2023, killing more than 43,000 people so far.

After the Israeli regime conducted a series of attacks involving pagers and walkie-talkies in Lebanon in September, it intensified its aggression against Hezbollah, resulting in significant loss of life and destruction.

At least 2,865 people have been killed and 13,047 others injured in Israeli attacks on Lebanon since early October last year, according to the country’s health ministry.

In late September, the regime also assassinated Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a strike in southern Beirut.

Since then, Hezbollah has increased its retaliatory attacks against Israeli targets and vowed to continue its fight in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defense of Lebanon.

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