An IDF soldier was seen placing a cigarette into the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary, in a Christian village in southern Lebanon, in a photo shared online on Wednesday.

After identifying the soldier, the Israel Defense Forces said he will be disciplined.

In response to a query, the IDF said that it “views the incident gravely and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct completely deviates from the values expected of its troops.”

An initial inquiry conducted by the IDF found that the photo was taken in the village of Debel several weeks ago, although it was only shared online on Thursday.

The incident joins several other occurrences in which footage has been published of Israeli soldiers — oftentimes by the troops themselves — destroying or looting property. Debel was the village where a soldier smashed a statue of Jesus last month, as well as where soldiers were seen in footage showing military excavators damaging solar panels.

The two soldiers involved in vandalizing the statue were taken off combat duty and punished, while the incident with the solar panels is under investigation.

Debel, like........

© The Times of Israel