Tensions continue to grow along Israel’s border with Lebanon, specifically with regards to the Iranian backed terror group Hezbollah which is based there. There are concerns the terror group might think Israel’s current domestic unrest might have weakened its defensive capabilities. So, Israel’s Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant went to the Lebanese border where he issued a warning to Hezbollah.
In recent months, Hezbollah has committed a number of deliberate provocations along the border, such as having its operatives climb the border fence to take down IDF security cameras on it. Hezbollah also had people set up tents to occupy a small area of Israel along the border which t claims belongs to Lebanon.
Now, a report from the Alma Research and Education Center showed that Hezbollah benefits from Iranian aid to the Syrian arms industry. Iran has helped the Syrian regime in that country’s ongoing civil war ad its Hezbollah proxy even sent its own people to fight for the Syrian regime. Hezbollah could get Syrian weapons, even chemical weapons.
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“We proved in the report an Iranian involvement specifically in a Syrian government agency center focused on weapons development,” Sarit Zehavi, president of the Alma Research and Education Center and a former officer in the IDF Intelligence Directorate, told The Media Line.
Hezbollah continues to claim that Israel still occupies Lebanese territory, 23 years after Israel withdrew all of its forces from that country. In 2000 Israel dismantled its long-standing “security zone” in an area of southern Lebanon to the north of its border, ending an 18 year long occupation of the country’s territory.
And Lebanon has reportedly mobilized its naval forces in response to what the country says are Israeli boats violating its territorial waters.
In addition to all of this, the Shin Bet – Israel’s national anti-terrorism agency known in English as the General Security Services – revealed it identified and neutralized a terrorist cell in the West Bank planning to execute attacks in Israel and which was directed by the terrorist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Lebanon. Israel’s security forces arrested many residents of the areas of the Palestinian Authority in recent months who were allegedly involved in the terror cell.
They were said to be under the direction of one Alam Kaabi who Israeli authorities described as a senior member of the PFLP.
Yoav Gallant had a dire warning for Hezbollah. When touring the border with Lebanon on Tuesday Gallant said, “You have made mistakes in the past, you have paid very heavy prices. If an escalation or conflict develops here, we will return Lebanon to the Stone Age. We will not hesitate to use all our power, and erode every inch of Hezbollah and Lebanon if we have to.”
“My message to our enemies across the border is clear,” added Gallant. “We are not interested in war, but if necessary – we will not hesitate to use our full power, and wear out every inch of Hezbollah in Lebanon.”