The Israeli military on Saturday accused a group of soldiers of burning a Lebanese flag in southern Lebanon where they are fighting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
The military spoke after a video circulated on social media showing around half a dozen people dressed in Israeli uniforms jumping and singing a religious maxim as one of them sets fire to the flag with a lighter.
“We view the act of some soldiers burning the Lebanese flag in southern Lebanon as a violation of orders, inconsistent with the values of the defence forces, and misaligned with the goals of our military activities in Lebanon,” said military spokesman Avichay Adraee.
#هام منذ بدء الحرب على حزب الله، قلناها بوضوح: حربنا ليست ضد الشعب اللبناني، بل ضد من ينتهك أرض لبنان، ويحرق سيادته، ويدنس رموزه.
حربنا ضد حزب الله الإرهابي، الذي لم يكن يومًا لبنانيًا لا في العقيدة، ولا الفكر، ولا الهوية. ومن هنا، نعتبر قيام بعض الجنود على حرق العلم اللبناني في… pic.twitter.com/A1KtAcyOcn
— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 9, 2024
“Our war is against the terrorist Hezbollah, which has never been truly Lebanese in creed, ideology, or identity,” he added in an Arabic-language post on social media platform X.
The post did not mention any possible sanctions against the soldiers.
It did include a video allegedly showing a Hezbollah militant tearing a Lebanese flag off its pole and replacing it with the group’s banner.
Israel has been at war with Hezbollah since late September, when it broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.
Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
