Israel army slams soldiers for burning Lebanese flag

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Khiam on November 9, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. Agence France-Presse

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

The military spoke after a video circulated on social media showing around half a dozen people dressed in Israeli uniforms jumping and singing a religious maxim as one of them sets fire to the flag with a lighter.

“We view the act of some soldiers burning the Lebanese flag in southern Lebanon as a violation of orders, inconsistent with the values of the defense forces, and misaligned with the goals of our military activities in Lebanon,” said military spokesman Avichay Adraee.

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

The post did not mention any possible sanctions against the soldiers.

It did include a video allegedly showing a Hezbollah militant tearing a Lebanese flag off its pole and replacing it with the group’s banner.

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

Hezbollah began low intensity strikes on Israel in support of Hamas following its ally’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza war.