Hezbollah apparently vacated tent on Israeli border amid threats from Israel
Unclear if the move is a response to Israeli threats or internal situation in Lebanon
Approximately one month after dismantling one of the two tents established on the Israeli side of the blue line, Hezbollah has apparently stopped manning the second tent.
Up to this point, the tent had been manned around the clock by operatives of the Hezbollah terror organization in Lebanon.
Israel Defense Forces have kept a constant watch on the site since Hezbollah established the outpost in early July.
IDF Northern Command's Maj.-Gen. Uri Gordin had recommended the use of aggressive measures to drive Hezbollah from the area, including the use of force. However, his recommendations were not accepted and Israel decided to pursue diplomatic means.
Jerusalem also sent messages to the Lebanese government through the United Nations peacekeeping mission on the border, UNIFIL, requesting the removal of the tents from Israeli territory.
According to local reports over the weekend, Hezbollah stopped manning the second tent as of Friday.
Brig.-Gen. Efi Defrin, head of the IDF’s Foreign Relations, will fly to the United States this week to discuss the renewal of the UNIFIL forces in Lebanon. He is expected to express Israel’s dissatisfaction with UNIFIL’s refusal to act on Hezbollah's violation of Israeli territory.
Some in Israel believe Hezbollah’s withdrawal from the second tent is in response to Israeli threats. Last week, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Nasrallah not to make a mistake, saying Israel would “return Lebanon to the Stone Age.”
Others say the internal situation in Lebanon may have caused Hezbollah to refocus its activities on preserving a show of force in the nation as tensions with the Christian population in the region have increased.
On Sunday morning, Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah met with Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Ziad Nakhaleh in Beirut. The meeting comes amid the rising border tensions with Israel and following clashes between rival Palestinian groups in the refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh near Sidon, Lebanon.
Nasrallah will reportedly deliver a speech this Monday to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War, the 34-day military conflict on the Israel-Lebanon border after a Hezbollah cross-border raid in 2006.
The All Israel News Staff is a team of journalists in Israel.
