A number of residents of the Arqoob, Hasbaya and Marjayoun border villages in southern Lebanon held a sit-in on Sunday at the eastern entrance to the town of Abbasiya to protest actions by UNIFIL.

A number of residents of the Arqoob, Hasbaya and Marjayoun border villages in southern Lebanon held a sit-in on Sunday at the eastern entrance to the town of Abbasiya to protest actions by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

Immediately after the July war that the Zionist entity launched on Lebanon in 2006, UNIFIL closed the 2200-meter road connecting Abbasiya town to the Wazzani river passing along the village of Ghajar, at the request of the Zionist enemy.

The action formed a security zone for the Zionist entity, while the Lebanese army has been negotiating UNIFIL to open the road that the national military is banned from using it.

The popular crowd gathered in front of UNIFIL Headquarters in the town, and raised the Lebanese flags and banners demanding the opening of the road. Lebanese members of Parliament Qassem Hashem and Ali Fayyad were heading the protest.

"Our gathering aimed at sending a message to the Israelis that there is nothing can ban the Lebanese people from practicing the sovereignty of their liberated land," MP Fayyad told Al-Manar TV.

"It is also a message to remind the UNIFIL that Resolution 1701 provides that UNIFIL must help the Lebanese army and the Lebanese government to protect the Lebanese sovereignty," he added.

For his part, MP Hashem stressed that the gathering aimed at "raising voices to motivate the Lebanese government to take a move and communicate with UNIFIL to open this road."

"Otherwise, we will be ought to repeat this movement... We promise our people that this road will not be kept closed," he warned.

During the July war 2006, the Zionist entity reoccupied the Lebanese part of Ghajar border town and attached it to the Syrian occupied territories.

Last week residents of the Shabaa and Kfarshuba towns in South Lebanon -- accompanied with MP Hashem -- stormed the metal fence installed by the Zionist entity on border with Occupied Palestine, and raised the Lebanese flag over the top of the Saddana mountain in the area.