Miss Lebanon comes under fire for taking a selfie with Miss Isreal.

The group selfie was taken by Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, left, forcing Miss Lebanon, Saly Greige, second from left, to publicly apologise 

Lebanon's Miss Universe contestant has come under fire over a group selfie in which she appears with Miss Israel, leading to several calls for her to be stripped off her title.

Saly Greige, 25, has been forced to apologise for the selfie, taken by Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, as they prepare to take part in the upcoming pageant in Miami. 

Lebanon and Israel remain at war, and Miss Greige, from Al-Koura, north Lebanon, claims she had done her best to avoid Miss Matalon, and had been caught by surprise when the photograph was taken.

The offending photo, taken in Miami where the Miss Universe pageant is staged, appeared on Miss Matalon's Instagram account on January 11.

Miss Greige, who has a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering, can be seen smiling awkwardly in the photograph alongside Miss Japan and Miss Slovenia.

Lebanese media picked up the story, running Greige's allegations that Matalon had 'photobombed' the selfie, and local social media users both defended and attacked their beauty queen for the picture.

After several calls for her to be stripped of her Miss Lebanon 2014 title, Miss Greige took to her Facebook page to declare that Israel's Doron Matalon had 'photobombed' her.

'Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel (that tried several times to have a photo with me),' Greige wrote in English on her page.

'I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia and myself, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in, took a selfie, and put it on her social media.' 

Matalon responded to the controversy herself on Sunday, saying it made her 'sad'.

'It doesn't surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you can not put the hostility out of the game,' she wrote in English and Hebrew. 

Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000, but the two countries are still technically at war and their armies occasionally skirmish along the UN-designated withdrawal line.

Israel fought a bloody war against Lebanon's Hezbollah in 2006, which killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.