Lebanon started bulldozing lands adjacent to what is known as the withdrawal line, or the Blue Line, in the Kfar Chouba Heights, the area bordering occupied Palestine, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported Thursday.

The bulldozing operations are a precedent for Lebanon since the liberation of the South and the Western Bekaa from the Israeli occupation, Al Mayadeen's correspondent said, adding that the bulldozing was taking place near the barricades set up by the Israeli occupation a few days ago.

"أعمال التجريف تمت بشكل طبيعي في ظل انكفاء إسرائيلي واضح".

مراسل #الميادين عباس الصباغ.@abbas_sabbagh@mayadeenlebanon pic.twitter.com/bnStC9Ont9

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) July 20, 2023

The zones in which the bulldozing took place have not seen Lebanese people set foot there since the 1970s.

As the bulldozing took place, the Lebanese Army reinforced its positions on the border area amid a heightened state of alert on either side of the border.

دقائق معدودة .. هكذا أطلّ بها بها رئيس أركان جيش العدو هاليفي أثناء جولته الحدودية على موقع العباد مقابل بلدة #حولا برفقة قائد المنطقة الشمالية وقائد فرقة الجليل قاذد اللواء الشرقي pic.twitter.com/ctsBw7gXnJ

— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib 🇱🇧 (@alishoeib1970) July 20, 2023

"We will bulldoze a new path near the occupation's barricades to facilitate the transportation of civilians to the Baathiel pond," Kfar Chouba Mayor Qassem Al-Kadiri told Al Mayadeen.

"The bulldozing is taking place on land that we have not been to in decades. What is happening today is of great importance, and it is time for us to be on our soil. It is surprising how some say this is not Lebanese territory," Al-Kadiri underlined.

"المنطقة المشمولة بإجراءات بلدية #كفرشوبا اليوم لم يطأها اللبنانيون منذ بدايات سبعينيات القرن الماضي".

مراسل #الميادين عباس الصباغ.@abbas_sabbagh@mayadeenlebanon pic.twitter.com/77nEygvBcU

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) July 20, 2023

"We are proud and content with the return of our territories. The Shebaa Farms and the Kfar Chouba Heights are included in UNSC resolution 425," the town's mayor said, referencing the clause calling for "strict respect for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally recognized boundaries."

Lebanese citizens from the town told Al Mayadeen about the situation there, saying they had the right to work on their soil and underlying that they were "not afraid of the occupation due to the Army, Resistance, and people."

The Israeli occupation forces, in response to the Lebanese bulldozing operations, fired smoke bombs toward the Lebanese territories off the occupied Kfar Shuba heights, with an Israeli tank moving from the Ruwaisat Al-Alam site as the bulldozing operations were taking place, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported.

The occupation also started mobilizing its forces meters away from the bulldozing works alongside the border after it had erected barricades in the area on Tuesday evening beyond the withdrawal line in clear violation of UN resolutions regarding the respect of Lebanon's sovereignty. 

This comes after the Israeli occupation forces fired artillery shells at the area between Kfar Chouba, Halta, and Kfar Hamam, all of which are located south of Lebanon, earlier in the month.

Some 11 Israeli shells, launched from the "Al-Zaoura" site in the occupied territories, targeted the aforementioned region.

According to Israeli media, the information received regarding the event remained conflicting. Initially, it was reported that the sound of an explosion was heard near the occupied town of Al-Ghajar, located in an occupied region of South Lebanon, was a result of a hand grenade that exploded within the liberated Lebanese territories and not a result of a rocket being fired from Lebanon toward "Israel".

"The Israeli army fired 15 artillery shells in response to a missile fired from Lebanon towards Israel," Kan military affairs correspondent Itay Blumenthal said.

Investigations showed that "a rocket was fired from Lebanon before exploding in Israeli territory, and in response to that, the Israeli army attacked the area from which the missile was launched on Lebanese soil," the spokesperson for the Israeli occupation army said.