Israel frees three out of five Lebanese detainees

The Israel army has released three out of the five people they had kidnapped Thursday near the Blue Line border with Lebanon.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the men were trying to cross the Israel-Lebanon border, Xinhua reported.

"The IDF soldiers identified suspects crossing the Israel-Lebanon border into Israel. Two suspects were detained and taken in for questioning," the IDF spokeswoman said.

Three men originally crossed the border into Israel, two of them were caught, while the third fled back to Lebanon, an Israeli security officer said.

However, the Lebanese army reported that an Israeli commando unit crossed the international boundary separating Lebanon from Israel near the Shebaa farms Thursday at noon and kidnapped five Lebanese citizens, detaining them in the occupied territories.

A 12-member Israeli commando unit crossed into Lebanon for a length of about 150 metres and kidnapped the farmers while they were working in the fields, a Lebanese official stated.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon is working in coordination with the Lebanese army and the Israeli army to secure the release of the detained.

The Blue line border, refers to a UN-drawn border line between Israel and Lebanon after the withdrawal of the Israeli army from southern Lebanon in 2000.