Israel transfers border area back to Lebanon

Israeli troops transferred control over a portion of the border to troops in Lebanon for the first time today, the army said.

At the time of the cease-fire two weeks ago, which ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli troops occupied a security zone 19 miles inside Lebanon.

It has been slowly transferring control of that zone to arriving Lebanese and UN troops since then.

Today, the army gave up control of a small area of the border near the Israeli border-town of Metulla, putting the Lebanese and international troops on Israel’s border for the first time, the army said.