Two Israeli soldiers will spend weeks in military prison for desecration of a Christian object after one stuck a cigarette in the mouth of a statue of the Virgin Mary in southern Lebanon and the other photographed it.

The photo of the soldier, a cigarette dangling from his own mouth, went viral and sparked widespread outrage.

It was the latest act by Israeli forces to be denounced as anti-Christian in southern Lebanon, where Israel launched a ground invasion earlier this year to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Israel’s military said the soldier posing would get 21 days in military prison and the soldier who photographed it would get 14.

The military “views the incident with great severity and respects freedom of religion and worship, as well as holy sites and religious symbols of all religions and communities”, spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ariella Mazor wrote on social media.

The photo circulated days after images of an Israeli soldier wielding an axe against a fallen statue of Jesus on the cross in the southern Lebanon village of Debel was roundly condemned by foreign leaders, Christian leaders and Israeli politicians.