Project manager Sherif Wehbeh told AFP that the station on the Wazzani river near the Israeli border, officially inaugurated October 16, started distributing water to eight villages in the Marjayoun region.

The villages were identified as Talloussa, Bani Hayyan, Mhaybeeb, Markaba, Mays al-Jabal, Blida, Houla and Aadaysseh.

"Next week, the station will be distributing water to 40 villages in the Marjayoun and (nearby) Hasbaya regions," said Wehbeh.

Late Monday, a flare fired by Israeli soldiers started a fire near the pumping station where workers were putting the final touches on the project, an AFP correspondent at the scene said.

On October 16, Lebanon inaugurated the project to tap water from the Wazzani, which indirectly feeds the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main fresh water reservoir.

Lebanon says the quantity it plans to take from the Wazzani remains much less than its share under an unratified 1955 agreement.

The involvement of water experts from the European Union, the United States and France, under the supervision of the United Nations as requested by Lebanon, has helped to lower tensions on the sensitive border.

But Israel accuses Lebanon of seeking to take more water than it says and has warned it will defend its interests.

SPACE.WIRE