Hezbollah Refuses to Remove Posts Set Up on Israeli Side of Border with Lebanon

Mohammad Raad, head of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc (Hezbollah's political wing), announced Saturday, July 1, that Hezbollah would not be removing two tents placed on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, according to Lebanese media.

For the past two months, Hezbollah fighters have been manning two tents placed on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, the ceasefire line and border with Lebanon, established after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

The specific area in question is called Mount Dov in Israel, for the IDF officer killed there in 1970, and called Shaba farms in Lebanon. It is actually an Israeli enclave with several IDF outposts. The area is on constant alert and the army operates in the area regularly in order to thwart attempts to penetrate into Israeli territory.

The Israeli government had preferred that the dispute be handled diplomatically by the UN in order to avoid escalation in the northern sector, so it had asked the UN to apply pressure on Lebanon and also Hezbollah to remove the tents.

The IDF also stated that the tents were not a threat to national security. According to the request, "Unless Hezbollah evacuates the two sites, the Israeli army will itself take the initiative to evacuate them by force, after two weeks of mediation by European capitals in contact with Hezbollah in Lebanon." (JPost / VFI News)

“They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, ‘Who will see it?’ ” - Psalm 64:5