BEIRUT: Spokesman for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon confirmed Thursday that the Israeli army has set up a barbed wire fence near the border village of Adaysseh.

“On the night of Feb. 7-8 in the general area of Adaysseh Israeli troops laid concertina wire to mark the mine field after prior notification to UNIFIL,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh said in a statement.

“During this time UNIFIL troops were deployed in the area to ensure that there were no violations of the Blue Line,” the statement added.

Later Singh clarified to The Daily Star that Israeli troops “did cross the technical fence. But the Israeli technical fence is not the Blue Line and in this area there is a distance between the technical fence and the Blue Line.”

Security sources told The Daily Star earlier Thursday that a group of Israeli troops has erected a barbed wire fence in a disputed area near Adaysseh and is conducting patrols.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said 15 Israeli troops had entered some 75 meters into the disputed area near Adaysseh, Marjayoun, and erected the fence between 12.30 a.m. and 2.15 a.m. Wednesday.

In response to a question, Singh said that UNIFIL is aware of Lebanon’s territorial reservations in this area.

“However, in the year 2000 both Lebanon and Israel undertook to respect the Blue Line as identified by the U.N. notwithstanding their respective reservations,” he said.

In 2010, Adaysseh saw the deadliest clashes between Lebanese and Israeli troops in several years.

The Lebanese Army has informed the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and launched a probe into the incident.

The sources said that the Israeli army is conducting patrols in the disputed area where it erected the fence.