Beirut  - Lebanese farmers on Tuesday accused Israel of deliberately flooding their land with excess rainwater from an Israeli orchard across the border, according to media reports.

Voice of Lebanon radio reported that the water flooded fields near the southern town of Mais al-Jabal on Tuesday, ruining crops and properties.

Lebanese farmers who called on the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) to launch an investigation, according to the report.

An army source in southern Lebanon said the army and UNIFIL had dispatched teams to look into the claims.

Farmers in the area charged that the flooding was part of a systematic practice by Israeli authorities to turn the highly-fertile land into swamps by channelling rainwater into the fields via trenches, which the say were dug for that purpose.

The farmers said the army and UNIFIL have in the past intervened to protect crops. (dpa)