“Israel” Returns Three of Seven Cows to Lebanon

The source said the release came after "intense contacts" between “Israeli” officers and UNIFIL peacekeepers since the cows strayed into the “Israeli” entity Sunday. The source expected the four remaining cows to be handed back shortly.

Security sources and herders in the village of Wazzani have said that “Israeli” patrols crossed into a grey zone Sunday between a fence that separates the two countries and the Blue Line that constitutes the United Nations-designated frontier, taking the seven cows.

The “Israeli” military spokesman's office said at the time the IOF had not taken the cows. It said a few cows had crossed the fence and the Blue Line from Lebanese territory during IOF “activity”, after which the gate was locked.

A cow is worth around $2,000 and the loss of an animal is significant for farmers living through Lebanon's financial crisis.

The area near a river where the Wazzani cows graze is only around 200 meters from the “Israeli” entity.

In Mais al-Jabal, another border village, teenager Hussein Chartouni complained last month that one of his chickens had wandered behind the border barbed wire and was snatched and never returned.

"I want my chicken," he told Reuters Monday, using a phrase that has become a popular hashtag on Twitter.