TULINE (Lebanon), July 3 Villagers disarmed a French patrol of UN peacekeepers on Saturday and attacked them with sticks, rocks and eggs in south Lebanon, in the latest in a string of such incidents, the Lebanese army said.

“Residents of the village of Tuline as well as some villagers from nearby Kabrikha attacked a patrol with sticks and threw stones and eggs,” a military spokesman said.

“The citizens disarmed the soldiers and briefly took control of their vehicles before the army intervened and made them move away from the patrol,” the spokesman said.“The arms were returned to UNIFIL and the incident is closed,” he said, referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon which patrols the border region.

He said the peacekeepers had earlier arrested a young man in Kabrikha who opposed their presence in his village. In Tuline, local residents attacked the patrol, demanding the man be released.—AFP