The probe into the abduction operation on Saturday is jointly conducted by the Lebanese police and judiciary [Ibrahim Chalhoub/AFP/Getty]
A preliminary probe found that Israeli commandos used a speedboat equipped with radar-jamming devices to abduct a Lebanese man accused of being a Hezbollah operative, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP Tuesday.
The initial findings suggest that “the Israeli army used a high-speed vessel equipped with advanced devices capable of jamming radars” belonging to the United Nations peacekeeping force (UNIFIL) that monitors the Lebanese coast, the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The probe into the abduction operation on Saturday is jointly conducted by the Lebanese police and judiciary.
The UN peacekeeping Maritime Task Force has helped Lebanon’s army monitor territorial waters and prevent the entry of arms or related material by sea since 2006, according to the mission’s website.
Germany has headed UNIFIL’s maritime taskforce since January 2021.
On Saturday, Israeli naval commandos seized a trainee mariner that a military official described as a “senior operative” of Hezbollah in a raid in northern Lebanon and brought him to Israel for questioning.
An acquaintance of the abductee identified him as Imad Amhaz.
The man in his thirties was studying to become a sea captain at the Maritime Sciences and Technology Institute (MARSATI) in Batroun, Lebanon’s primary training college for the shipping industry.
Lebanese authorities “cannot probe UNIFIL forces or request they provide information or footage captured by their radars because they have immunity”, the judicial official said.
The official called the abduction “a war crime that violated national sovereignty” because it involved the kidnapping of a Lebanese citizen in an area far from the fighting.
Israel escalated its air raids across south Lebanon, the southern suburbs of Beirut and the eastern Beqaa region on September 23, after nearly a year of cross-border fire with Hezbollah. A week later it sent in ground troops to southern Lebanon.
At least 3,002 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting began in October last year in parallel with the Gaza war, the health ministry said.
