Nepalese peacekeepers from the UN force in Lebanon deployed Sunday at the village of Rmeish on the border with Israel, after being held up for 90 minutes by members of Hizbollah movement.
The Hizbollah men allowed the peacekeepers to pass after intervention by the Lebanese government's coordinator with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, General Maher Tufaili, and the deputy UNIFIL commander, James Sreenan, who flew to Rmeish by helicopter to defuse the situation, an AFP correspondent saw.
Five Hizbollah men at a checkpoint one kilometer (half a mile) from the international frontier with Israel had refused to let the 40 Nepalis pass, because they said they had not been informed of their arrival.
The deployment of the Nepalese troops was part of a UNIFIL operation, already approved by the Lebanese authorities, to take up positions at four border points in the zone occupied by Israel for 22 years until it withdrew its forces on May 24th -- RMEISH, Lebanon (AFP)
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