2 Lebanese wounded by Israelis at border protest: state media

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KFARKILA, Liban, May 14, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Two Lebanese demonstrators
were wounded by Israeli fire Friday when dozens rallied on the
Lebanon-Israel border to protest the Jewish state’s strikes on the
Palestinian Gaza Strip, state media reported.

They were wounded “by two Israeli shells that fell near them after a
number of youths tried to enter the town of Metula” in northern
Israel, the National News Agency said.

In the aftermath, “the Lebanese army and security forces were
deployed… to stop the youths from advancing” again, the NNA added.

The wounded were taken to hospital in Marjayoun in southern Lebanon.

The protesters, some carrying Palestinian flags and that of the
group Hezbollah — arch-enemy of Israel — gathered in the Khiam
plain, opposite Metula, a few dozen metres (yards) from the border, an
AFP photographer said.

They later set fire to the area, with the flames spreading “all the
way to the border”, he added.

The Israeli army confirmed on Twitter its tanks had “fired warning
shots at a number of rioters… who had crossed into Israeli
territory”.

They “sabotaged the fence and set fire to it… before returning to
Lebanese territory”, it added, without mentioning any wounded.

On Thursday, three rockets were fired from southern Lebanon near the
Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh toward Israel, a Lebanese
military source said.

Israel’s army said the rockets landed in the sea.

A source close to Hezbollah said the Lebanese Shiite group had no
link to the incident.