BEIRUT (Dispatches) -- The Lebanese army said Sunday it had forced an Israeli patrol to retreat beyond the country’s border with Occupied Palestine.

A military statement said an Israeli patrol violated the Blue Line at the village of Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon. The Blue Line is the line set by the United Nations for the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanon in 2000. The Lebanese army said a military unit intervened and forced the Israeli patrol to retreat beyond the Blue Line.