Lebanese shepherd abducted near border by Israeli army released

Israel freed a Lebanese shepherd on Saturday a day after abducting him at the border, the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon announced.

UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said Israel released the shepherd after he was detained from the Shebaa border area.

The Lebanese army said on Friday that an Israeli patrol kidnapped Muhammad Imad Atwi from Shebaa and took him into the "occupied Palestinian territories."

Israeli military spokesman Avicahi Adraei had claimed that the shepherd was arrested for "crossing the Blue Line into Israeli territory," in reference to the temporary demarcation line drawn in 2000.

Many Lebanese citizens have been abducted by Israeli forces along the border in the last few months but usually released within hours or days.

Flareups in the past couple of years have broken the fragile calm observed along the border since 2006, when Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah fought a month-long war.