Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has called for an immediate probe into Israel’s abduction of a Lebanese man and has instructed his Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit an urgent complaint before the United Nations Security Council.
Mikati’s office said on Saturday that the Lebanese army and UN peacekeeping force, UNIFIL, are conducting investigations into the raid, adding that he had called for “expedited” results.
The Lebanese response came as the Israeli military confirmed late on Saturday that its naval commandos seized a trainee mariner, whom it described as a “senior operative” of the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
The man, identified by Lebanese officials as Imad Amhaz, was seized by heavily armed Israeli forces from Batroun, a predominantly Christian coastal town north of Beirut.
The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah issued a statement describing the incident as a “Zionist aggression”. The group has not confirmed if the abducted person was its member.
Lebanon’s Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh cited the country’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) as saying the abducted man was a civilian naval officer.
Soon after Israel went public about the operation, Mikati instructed Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to file a complaint against Israel at the UNSC.
‘Unprecedented’
Israel’s military said the abducted individual “has been transferred to Israeli territory and is currently being investigated”. It did not provide the name of the person in detention.
The operation marks the first time Israel has announced it deployed troops deep into northern Lebanon to take what it claimed a senior Hezbollah operative hostage since it launched a ground offensive last month.
CCTV camera footage shared online by Lebanese journalists appeared to show a group of armed men leading away a man whose shirt was over his head.
According to Lebanese media reports, more than 25 heavily armed men landed at a beach in Batroun, about 50km (31 miles) north of Beirut, and seized the man before returning to their speedboats and leaving the area.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Batroun, said the raid was “unprecedented”.
“This is northern Lebanon; this is not the southern suburbs or the border parts where we have seen Israeli troops on the ground. This is an unprecedented raid,” he said.
“This is a very serious incident. We haven’t seen an extraction or abduction like this for a very long time. This is something the Lebanese authorities will be taking seriously. They are already on the ground here.”
Meanwhile, Kandice Ardiel, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, denied allegations that UN forces helped the landing force in the operation.
“Disinformation and false rumours are irresponsible and put peacekeepers at risk,” Ardiel said.
