Page 10 - aruba-today-20181201

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 1 december 2018

For Israel, a rearmed Hezbollah in Lebanon is top concern

By ARON HELLER Hezbollah's unguided rock-
Associated Press ets into precision munitions
ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON that could wreak far more
BORDER (AP) — On a moon- devastation on Israeli tar-
lit night, some two dozen gets.
Israeli soldiers in full battle Hezbollah declined to re-
gear march near a Leba- spond to the accusations.
nese border village with a Its leader, Hassan Nasral-
bomb-sniffing dog, search- lah, said recently the group
ing for explosives and infil- is "more confident than
trators. ever" and ready for war at
Suddenly the force stops. any time.
Through night-vision gog- On the ground, the poten-
gles, two suspicious men tial for trouble is clear. Israel
appear over the ridge, occupied parts of southern
holding what looks like bin- Lebanon before withdraw-
oculars. Could they be un- ing in 2000 to the U.N.-de-
dercover Hezbollah guer- marcated "blue line." But
rillas? Lebanese soldiers on Lebanon and Hezbollah
a night patrol? Or perhaps have disputed parts of the
U.N. peacekeepers? U.N. map, and an official
The men appear unarmed border has never been
and since they are on the agreed on by the two en-
other side of the interna- In this Friday, June 8, 2018, file photo, Israeli soldiers patrols near the area where Hezbollah held emy countries.
tionally recognized "blue a rally to mark al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day, at the village of Maroun el-Rass on the Lebanon-Israel Due to the uneven terrain,
line" that separates the border, south Lebanon. Israel's sophisticated north-
two countries, Israeli troops Associated Press ern fence does not run
move on, completing an- outpost and a new square bound for Hezbollah. than 1,200 Lebanese and precisely along the border,
other routine foot patrol house inside an agricultural Until recently, Israel flew its 160 Israelis were killed. creating enclaves of Israeli
along a scenic frontier that field, assumed to be a Hez- jets through Syrian skies with With a lagging economy territory that are inside the
has remained quiet but bollah lookout. impunity. But that was se- and a paralyzed gov- blue line but beyond the
tense since the bloody bat- Under the U.N.-brokered verely restricted after a Rus- ernment, Lebanon ap- fence.
tles of a 2006 summer war. cease-fire that ended the sian plane was downed in pears unlikely to have the Israel had previously ne-
Even with attention cur- 2006 war, Hezbollah's troops September by Syrian forces stomach for another war. glected these areas and
rently focused on Gaza are prohibited from ap- responding to an Israeli air Though emboldened politi- its troops were ambushed
militants along the southern proaching the border. But strike, a friendly fire incident cally from the Syria war and there in 2006. Now it's step-
front, Israel's main security Israeli intelligence says Hez- that stoked Russian anger having surged in power in ping up its presence, forti-
concerns lie to the north, bollah men operate freely, toward Israel and hastened Lebanese parliamentary fying fences and clearing
along the border with Leb- generally unarmed and in the delivery of sophisticat- elections earlier this year, away brush to improve ob-
anon. civilian clothes. Sometimes ed S-300 air defense sys- Hezbollah is going through servation.
Israeli officials have long they come within just a few tems to Syria. a financial crunch. It also It's also sending a signal
warned the threat posed meters (feet) of the Israeli With Syria's civil war wind- is recovering after having that violations won't be tol-
by Gaza's Hamas rulers troops, it says. Only a coil ing down, an empowered hundreds of fighters killed erated — even on a night
pales in comparison to that of barbed wire separates Hezbollah is now free to re- or wounded in Syria. patrol, Israeli troops don't
of Lebanon's Iran-backed them but there are no in- establish itself back home in Still, Israel accuses it of hide their presence.
Hezbollah militant group — teractions. Lebanon and refocus on Is- ratchetting up tensions. "I have an interest that they
a heavily-armed mini-army "They are very disciplined rael, said Eyal Ben-Reuven, The military says it recently see I'm here," said Lt. Col.
with valuable combat ex- soldiers. They won't initiate a lawmaker and retired uncovered militant surveil- Aviv, a bullet loaded in
perience and an arsenal of anything," said Aviv, who general who commanded lance outposts along the the chamber of his modi-
some 150,000 rockets that can only be identified by Israeli ground troops in the border, set up under the fied M-16 rifle. "There are no
can reach nearly every his first name under military 2006 war. Armed with more guise of a tree-planting surprises."q
part of Israel. regulations. exact rockets and muni- campaign by an environ-
It's along this northern front When Prime Minister Ben- tions, Hezbollah now pos- mental advocacy group,
that Israeli soldiers come jamin Netanyahu recently es a far more dangerous "Green Without Borders."
face-to-face with Hezbol- decided against a full- threat, he said. The group acknowledges
lah guerrillas and where scale offensive in Gaza, he "A terror organization, un- its affiliation with Hezbollah
any skirmish could spark an cited the current "security- like a country, doesn't but says its work is purely
all-out war. sensitive period" in what stockpile weapons for de- environmental.
"The rules of the game are was widely assumed to be terrence but in order to use Netanyahu also accused
very clear. They know I'm a reference to the northern them one day," he said. "I Hezbollah of setting up se-
here and I know they're front. suspect they will now try to cret rocket launching sites
there," said Lt. Col. Aviv, a Israel has generally re- goad Israel. ... The war the near Beirut's international
regional battalion com- frained from engaging in Israeli military has to pre- airport. The military says He-
mander. "But if they break Syria's civil war, where He- pare for is the one against zbollah is establishing new
that equation, they are go- zbollah has fought fiercely Hezbollah." launching sites among ci-
ing to get hit." alongside President Bashar Neither side appears inter- vilians — a trap that could
From his base along the Assad's troops, though it ested quite yet in another make it difficult for Israel to
border near the Israeli farm- has carried out scores of full-fledged confrontation respond forcefully.
ing community of Avivim, airstrikes against what Israel like the monthlong 2006 But the military says its major
he can see the hilltop says were Iranian shipments war, which ended in stale- concern is Iranian-backed
Lebanese village of Ma- of advanced weapons mate and in which more efforts to convert some of
roun al-Ras, a U.N. observer