Israeli army condemns soldiers for burning Lebanese flag in viral video

The Israeli military on Saturday accused a group of soldiers of burning a Lebanese flag in southern Lebanon, where they were fighting the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.

The military made the comments after a video circulated on social media showing about half a dozen people in Israeli uniforms jumping and chanting a religious saying while one of them lit the flag with a lighter.

“We consider the burning of some soldiers of the Lebanese flag in southern Lebanon as a violation of orders that is incompatible with the values ​​of the Defense Forces and does not correspond to the objectives of our military activities in Lebanon,” military spokesman Avichay Adraee said.

#هام I took the time to pass the time before setting off. سيادته, ويدنس رموزه.

It is not possible for you to embark on the journey around the world that you can rely on and cannot do without. I have no idea how to take the time before… pic.twitter.com/A1KtAcyOcn

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) November 9, 2024

“Our war is against the terrorist Hezbollah, which has never been truly Lebanese in its beliefs, ideology or identity,” he added in an Arabic-language post on the social media platform X.

Possible sanctions against the soldiers were not mentioned in the article.

It included a video purporting to show a Hezbollah fighter tearing a Lebanese flag from its pole and replacing it with the group's banner.

Israel has been at war with Hezbollah since late September, when it expanded its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war continues.

After its ally's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the Gaza War, Hezbollah began low-intensity attacks against Israel in support of Hamas.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)