Bullet holes on Al Mayadeen’s crew vehicle after the IOF opened fire from the “Misgav Am” outpost toward the al-Odeisseh road in southern Lebanon on April 12, 2024. (Screengrab/ Al Mayade
Israeli occupation forces open fire from the “Misgav Am” outpost toward cars passing the town of al-Odeisseh while Al Mayadeen’s team and a number of civilian vehicles were passing.
On Friday, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) opened fire from the “Misgav Am” outpost toward the southern Lebanese town of al-Odeisseh as Al Mayadeen‘s crew and several civilian vehicles were passing.
Al Mayadeen‘s crew, who were driving a vehicle that was clearly marked PRESS, had evidence of bullet holes as a result of the shooting, but none were injured.
Our correspondent pointed out that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) witnessed heavy gunfire from the Israeli position towards the al-Odeisseh road.
This is not the first time the IOF target an Al Mayadeen crew.
On November 21, Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent, Farah Omar, and cameraman Rabih Me’mari were murdered in an Israeli airstrike on their location in Tayr Harfa, South Lebanon. An Israeli warplane fired two rockets on Farah and Rabih’s location.
Farah and Rabih had just ended a live broadcast at 10 am, giving updates on the latest Israeli bombardment in South Lebanon. Farah and her colleagues were targeted soon after they wrapped up their coverage and went off air.
منذ بدء العدوان على قطاع غزّة، ما زالت الطائرات العسكريّة الأجنبيّة تسرح وتمرح في الأجواء اللبنانيّة، دون حسيبٍ أو رقيب. وبينما يتحدّث البعض عن إمكانية أن تكون هذه الطائرات محمّلة بأجهزة تشويش ورصد وتعقّب وتجسّس واستشعار تُساعد العدوّ الإسرائيلي في حربه، بعدما عمل حزب الله على تدمير أجهزة العدوّ على الحدود، إلّا أنّه لا شيء يُمكن تأكيده، مع تكتّم المسؤولين الأمنيين عن حمولة هذه الطائرات، والاكتفاء بالإشارة إلى أنّ لبنان يفتش كلّ الطائرات التي تحطّ في مطار بيروت الدولي أو في قاعدة حامات الجويّة العسكريّة.ورغم تأكيد الجيش في أكثر من مرّة أنّ حركة الطائرات «طبيعيّة وروتينيّة»، إلا أنّ العودة شهراً إلى ما قبل 7 أكتوبر، تظهر أنّ الحركة نشطت أكثر بـ 90%. قبل الحرب، كانت حركة الطائرات تسجل هبوط نحو 14 طائرة عسكريّة شهرياً، أو أكثر بقليل كما حصل في شهر أيلول الماضي حينما حطّت 17 طائرة في لبنان، معظمها تتعلّق بقوّات «اليونيفيل»، فيما كانت بقية الطائرات عربية وقد أتت من القاهرة والمنامة.
وبحسب داتا «Intel sky» المتخصّص في رصد حركة الطائرات، ارتفع العدد بعد 7 تشرين الأوّل ليصل إلى ما معدّله طائرة يومياً، تُضاف إليها طائرات أميركيّة تجسسيّة!
وقد سبق لـ«الأخبار» أن نشرت جدولاً مفصلاً لحركة الطائرات العسكريّة الغربيّة بين 8 تشرين الأوّل و9 تشرين الثاني. فيما تُظهر «الداتا» للفترة التالية، هبوط 31 طائرة عسكريّة أجنبيّة بين الفترة الممتدّة من 14 تشرين الثاني حتّى 18 كانون الأوّل، غالبيّتها حطّت في مطار بيروت باستثناء 3 طائرات في قاعدة حامات. أما جنسية الدول المرسلة لهذه الطائرات، فهي بريطانيّة (7) وأميركيّة (4) وهولنديّة (3) وواحدة تابعة لحلف «الناتو» أتت من فنلندا، وهي المرة الأولى التي يرسل فيها «الناتو» واحدة من أكبر طائرات الشحن العسكري، بالإضافة إلى طائرات إسبانية وبولندية وفرنسيّة وإيطالية، وهي عادةً ما كانت تحطّ في بيروت قبل الحرب، في إطار عملها في نقل جنود «اليونيفيل» والمعدّات الخاصة بهم.
حركة الطائرات خفّت وتيرتها مع بداية الشهر الحالي، لتُصبح بمعدّل طائرة كلّ 3 أيّام، باستثناء يوم 12 كانون الأول حينما هبطت 3 طائرات في مطار بيروت. ولم يُعرف ما إذا كانت بعض الطائرات الأجنبيّة باتت تُطفئ إشاراتها أو أنّ الحركة تراجعت فعلاً.
احتال الأوروبيون على البروتوكول وناوروا جواً فوق قبرص لكنهم أتوا مباشرة الى مطار بيروت
أميركا تأمر بحفظ السريّة
عندما هبطت الطائرة العسكريّة الأميركيّة من نوع «CASA CN – 235 -300 »، أطلقت نداءً «GONZA» إلى برج المراقبة الخاص بمطار بيروت قبل وقت قصير من الهبوط. وفي وقت لاحق، غابت عمليات الإبلاغ عن الإقلاع والهبوط، وتبيّن ذلك بعد نشر «الأخبار» التقارير عن قيام الطائرات بإطفاء إشاراتها كلّما دخلت الأجواء اللبنانيّة. وقد طلبت هذه الطائرات من برج المراقبة في مطار بيروت ومن قاعدة أكروتيري الجويّة العسكريّة البريطانية الواقعة في قبرص، عدم إدراج رحلاتها ضمن جداول الرحلات الذي تُنشر على أنظمتها الخاصة.
وعليه، اكتفت هذه الطائرات الأميركيّة التي دخلت إلى لبنان بطريقة شبه «سريّة» بإبلاغ برج المراقبة عند دخولها إلى الأجواء اللبنانيّة شفهياً عبر اللاسلكي، ما يصعّب مسألة رصد عددها الفعلي ووجهة هبوطها (في مطار بيروت أو حامات)، وإن كان «Intel sky» قد تمكن من رصد دخول أكثر من طائرة عرّفت عن نفسها بـ«Gonza» إلى الأجواء اللبنانيّة بين شهرَي تشرين الثاني وكانون الأول.
ولا يكتفي سلاح الجو الأميركي بالتعدّي على الأجواء اللبنانيّة عبر إطفاء إشارات طائراته، بل فعل ما هو أخطر، عبر واحدة من أهم الطائرات التجسسيّة من نوع «MQ9»، إذ تم رصدها 3 مرّات على الأقل (في 12 و14 و19 كانون الأوّل) وهي تدخل مجال الطيران المدني، من دون الإفصاح عن طبيعة مهامها، وخصوصاً أنّ بإمكانها إلى جانب مهامها الاستطلاعيّة والتجسّسية على مساحة واسعة، أن تقوم بعمليّات هجومية عسكريّة كونها تكون عادةً محمّلة بالصواريخ.
تطرح حركة الـ«MQ9» الكثير من علامات الاستفهام حول المهام التي نفّذتها ووجهة هذه الأعمال الاستطلاعيّة وعن سبب منعها من دخول الأجواء اللبنانيّة، وخصوصاً من قبل الجيش اللبناني، علماً أن وزير الأشغال العامّة والنقل في حكومة تصريف الأعمال علي حميّة وقّع في بداية الشهر الحالي اتفاقاً مع قائد الجيش العماد جوزيف عون، يقضي بقيام القوات الجويّة في الجيش برفد المديريّة العامّة للطيران المدني بضبّاط مختصين للقيام بمهام مراقبين جويين». وبالتالي، فإنّ هؤلاء الضبّاط على علم بدخول الطائرات الأميركيّة التجسسيّة من دون أن يحرّكوا ساكناً.
ويُمكن إدراج الـ«MQ9» من ضمن واحدة من أخطر حركات الطائرات في لبنان بعد الحرب على غزّة على اعتبار أنّ مهمتها مكشوفة، إذ اعتاد برج المراقبة التابع لمطار بيروت أن يُسجّل حركة لهذا النوع من الطائرات، بالإضافة إلى طائرات أميركيّة تجسسيّة من نوع«RQ4» و«R135» (بإمكانها التجسّس على مساحة واسعة يصل قطرها إلى 400 كيلومتر مربع)، من دون أن تجرؤ سابقاً على دخولها إلى منطقة المعلومات الخاصّة بلبنان، والبقاء في المنطقة الخاصة بقبرص.
من تل أبيب إلى بيروت
ولا تكتفي الطائرات البريطانيّة والأميركيّة بتجاوز القوانين اللبنانية، التي تمنع هبوط طائرات آتية من كيان العدو، بل هي تلاعبت بالبروتوكول المعمول به في شأن ضرورة أن تحطّ الطائرات في مطار أو قاعدة أُخرى، وسجلت عمليات هبوط لـ 3 طائرات (أميركية وبريطانيّة) هبوطاً مباشراً في مطار بيروت إثر رحلة آتية من مطار اللد، من خلال مناورة جوية عبر المرور فوق قاعدتَي لارنكا وأكروتيري في قبرص، ولكن من دون أن تحطّ فيها لتقوم بما يسمّى Touch down. وهو الأمر نفسه الذي قامت به إحدى الشخصيات السياسية الألمانية التي زارت لبنان على متن طائرة سياسية من نوع «Airbus A319» في 19 تشرين الأوّل الماضي، إذ ذهبت من مطار اللد وذهبت إلى لارنكا من دون الهبوط فيها وقبل أن تعود أدراجها إلى بيروت.
طائرة عسكريّة لنقل «ترويقة» من أستراليا!
تنشر القوات الأستراليّة الجويّة كل نشاطاتها العسكريّة أو الوديّة، التي يقوم بها جنودها حول العالم. ولكن، هبوط طائرتها في قاعدة حامات الجويّة التابعة للجيش اللبناني بداية الشهر الحالي كان مستثنى على صفحتها على منصّة «إكس». وحده، سفيرها في لبنان أندرو بارنس كشف الخبر على صفحته الخاصّة، وقرّر «استعراض» جولته في القاعدة الجويّة برفقة قائد قاعدة حامات المقدّم الركن الطيّار ميشال العموّري وعددٍ من الجنود الأستراليين، بالإضافة إلى جنود كنديّين بعدما شكر الدولة الكنديّة على تعاونها، من دون الكشف عن سياق هذا التعاون.
أهم ما في هذه الصّور التي نشرها بارنس في 3 كانون الأوّل، كانت صورة يتيمةً لكرتونة مربّعة لا يتعدّى طولها المتر الواحد ودوّن عليها أنّ وزنها هو 9 كيلوغرامات، وتتضمّن «ترويقة» تنتهي مدّتها مع نهاية السنة الحاليّة. وهذا ما يطرح الكثير من علامات الاستفهام عمّا إذا كانت هذه الكراتين تتضمّن فعلاً وجبات طعام، ولماذا تقوم كندا بنقل الأكل إلى فريق عمل السفارة متكبّدة تكاليف الرحلة والوقود، بالإضافة إلى عناء النقل لنحو 13 ساعة، علماً أنّ معظم شركات الطيران الأجنبيّة مثلاً تتعاقد مع مطاعم لبنانيّة لتأمين وجبات الأكل إلى المسافرين على متنها. وما هي وجبة الأكل التي لا يُمكن إيجادها في لبنان حتّى يتم نقلها من كندا؟ ولماذا لم تنشر مديريّة التوجيه هذا النشاط على صفحاتها الرسميّة؟
والأهم لماذا ذهب السفير الأسترالي لتسلّمها من قاعدة حامات وليس من مطار بيروت، علماً أنّه يندر أن يقوم السفراء باستقبال الطائرات في القاعدة الجويّة وذلك بحسب الأعراف الدوليّة المعتمدة، عدا عن سؤال حول سبب عدم هبوطها في مطار بيروت.. ولماذا شكر السفير الأسترالي الدولة الكندية على تعاونها في نقل وجبات طعام؟
l Mayadeen denies circulated news attributed to it reporting that Hezbollah has called on the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeepers to evacuate their positions.
Al Mayadeen’s statement on disinformation attributed to the network.
Propaganda tools affiliated with different media platforms have started manufacturing and propagating fake news while citing Al Mayadeen as a source.
The circulating news, citing Al Mayadeen as a source, reporting that Hezbollah has called on the Lebanese army and UNIFIL peacekeepers to evacuate their positions along the southern Lebanese borders, is fabricated.
Al Mayadeen Media Network urges all its followers to obtain its news from the original verified platforms: the official websites, social platforms, television station, and verified official accounts.
The Network kindly requests that activists and followers not recklessly spread any information attributed to Al Mayadeen without referring back to the verified and official platforms.
It also warns media outlets, websites, and accounts, associated with promoting fake news and falsely attributing them to Al Mayadeen, of legal action and public disclosure.
Palestine, Lebanon, and the region as a whole are going through delicate and dangerous situations that are extremely sensitive. Hence, this requires all of us to handle news responsibly.
Al Mayadeen acknowledges that such complex situations breed misinformation. Stunts of media, psychological, and intelligence warfare proliferate in such situations, especially against professional media supporting the rights of the Palestinian people.
The Network is committed to providing the public with accurate, honest, and trustworthy information that triumphs the nation and its rights and does not hinder or betray it in any way.
Hezbollah’s tents are springing up along “Israel’s” border amid deceptive silence. This should be setting off all of “Israel’s” alarm bells. It’s part of a dangerous blow to the “Israeli” deterrence.
Hezbollah is taking advantage of the historically weaknesses along the ‘northern borderline.’
Hezbollah has deliberately crossed the borderline and went dozens of meters deep into “Israeli” territory as part of the tent saga. It moved the tents in a deliberate and calculated manner several times – a meter here and a meter there in accordance with its estimates of how far the rope can be pulled without a reaction from “Israel”. So far, the maneuver is working in the group’s favor.
These are not sporadic incidents. Throughout the past year, Hezbollah has become increasingly brazen in its provocative actions along the border fence, such as setting up military observation posts under the guise of preserving nature, tearing “Israeli” flags and damaging observation posts, and vandalizing the fence. All this was done with almost no response from “Israel.”
The provocateurs are neither environmental activists nor innocent herdsmen. They are part of the Radwan Force, the ‘commando force’ established by Hezbollah on the border with “Israel” whose purpose is to attack and occupy “Israeli” settlements adjacent to the fence in a surprise attack.
Although the identity of Hezbollah forces is clear and known, and they are positioned just a few meters from the borderline, “Israel” refrains from acting. Today, Hezbollah has received the message and is escalating toward the next provocation.
The threat facing “Israel” isn’t a mere provocation but Hezbollah’s readiness for an immediate surprise attack.
Fifty years after the “Yom Kippur” War, “Israel” is once again turning a blind eye. Today we see what we saw back then at the “Bar-Lev” line – the concentration of the “Israeli” army’s observations, the advance to the canal line, the preliminary preparations, and the removal of the camouflage nets. Everything was visible.
Now, when Golda’s diaries and the events of those days are revealed in the new documentary series, it turned possible to understand the seriousness of the issue, and how we saw everything but understood nothing.
Even today, “Israel” justifies its inaction with a variety of different excuses. It argues that Hezbollah is deterred, that their full capabilities haven’t been mobilized, and that they will not attack until conditions are met.
“Israel” sees the arming, the preparations to breach the border fence, and that the security elements it built along the border are eroding, and it is not acting.
The new policy of containment transmits weakness, a very negative and dangerous message in the complicated Middle East. It is the one that increased the mouse into a mountain – the Shebaa Farms incident that could have ended as a micro-tactical incident with a clear message, ended up being planted in the minds of the decision-makers in “Israel” and Hezbollah as a possibility and a threat of war, which could break out at any moment.
“Israel” must understand that there is no place for the weak in the Middle East and that self-restraint is not strength. Weakness is simply weakness and is very dangerous.
A situation in which Hezbollah can start a war at any moment is an unacceptable situation. This is a ‘zero-sum game’ that may take a heavy toll on “Israel.”
“Israel” should act strongly against Hezbollah on the borderline and beyond. It should also remove the Radwan Force members, and demand the implementation of the agreements [UN Resolution 1701 – August 2006] for which the UN is in South Lebanon. Only removing the threat or destroying it will bring real peace and security to the ‘residents’ of the north.
The Lebanese army units continued on Tuesday constructing a military road in Bustra Farm on the border of the Lebanese liberated territories.
The Israeli enemy withdrew from most of the Lebanese territories, except Shebaa Farms, KfarShuba Hills, the Lebanese part of Al-Ghajar town, and a number of controversial positions. Thus Lebanon does not recognize the withdrawal Line as its border line with occupied Palestine.
The Lebanese military soldiers were deployed in face of the Zionist occupation troops which violated even the withdrawal line. Meanwhile, the UNIFIL troops attended the scene in order to separate the Lebanese and the Israeli forces.
Al-Manar reporter Ali Shoeib observed the Lebanese works as well as the Israeli violations and provocations, reflecting the enemy’s fear of Lebanon’s power represented by the Resistance.
The Syrian Democratic Forces impose a curfew in Deir Ezzor’s countryside following violent clashes that resulted in losses on their end.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters in Deir Ezzor, Syria (Archive)
Al Mayadeen‘s correspondent to Syria reported that SDF armed groups announced that they are launching a military operation to confront Arab tribes East of the Euphrates River.
Our correspondent added that SDF armed groups used Artillery and grad MLRS to bomb the town of Al-Busayrah in Deir Ezzor Eastern countryside after Arab Tribal fighters took control of it.
Local sources from northern Deir Ezzor confirm the control of Arab tribal fighters over the entire towns of Al-Baghouz, Al-Basir, and Al-Shahil. The sources confirmed Arab tribal fighters control the road leading to the Al-Omar oil field, which is the largest US base in the area.
Arab tribes took control of the entire river line opposite the Syrian army positions in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, local sources confirmed.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Friday imposed a curfew in the Deir Ezzor countryside after sustaining losses in the governorate’s east.
Due to the security situation in eastern Deir Ezzor and armed groups, including ISIS, taking advantage of the situation there, the military council of Deir Ezzor and the Internal Security Forces imposed a curfew, SDF said in a statement.
“The curfew will start at 5 AM Saturday and last for 48 hours,” the statement added.
The SDF forces in the area are working to ensure the safety of civilians and their property against the sabotage of the armed groups and to prevent said groups from hiding among civilians.
Sources in eastern Syria earlier on Friday told Al Mayadeen that fighters from Arab tribes have taken full control of the town of Hajin in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, shortly after the withdrawal of the SDF militias from the area.
The sources also confirmed that SDF militias withdrew from several other villages in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor. Video clips shared by journalists on social media showed armed tribal fighters in these villages.
Arab Tribes and the “Syrian National Army” attacked Manbij
Villages and towns in the eastern and northern countryside of Deir Ezzor witnessed intense clashes throughout last night between fighters from local Arab tribes and the Deir Ezzor Military Council on one side, and armed SDF militias on the other side. The latter attempted to take control of the entire Deir Ezzor and end the armed presence of the Arab tribes.
The clashes resulted in SDF gaining control over several villages in the northern countryside of Deir Ezzor, following the reinforcement of military forces from Al-Hasakah, Manbij, Raqqa, and Ain al-Arab, supported by heavy weapons, rocket launchers, and tanks, to capture the villages of Abriha, Al-Azabah, Al-Rabieh, and Al-Daman before withdrawing from Al-Daman under the pressure of tribal fire.
In the eastern countryside, Arab tribal fighters managed to take control of several villages, towns, and outposts, seizing a number of armored vehicles, weapons, and ammunition after the withdrawal of SDF fighters and the defection of another group who surrendered to the tribal fighters.
The tribes’ members took control of a military police headquarters in Granij, a checkpoint in the town of Al-Tayyana, and the Asayish center in Dhiban. Concurrently, the armed SDF groups completely withdrew from the town of Al-Baghouz after being given a deadline to leave the town by the tribal fighters. They also repelled a wide-scale attack by SDF towards the town of Al-Busayrah.
Turkish-affiliated Syrian National Army announced the opening of crossings for those willing from the tribal communities to fight against SDF in Manbij and Al-Bab, which did happen, as armed forces who claimed to be from the tribal communities fought side to side with the National Army against the SDF’s advances in several villages in Manbij and Al-Bab.
Moreover, earlier today, Humat Al-Jazira armed group announced joining Arab tribal fighters in confronting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), just days after defecting from the US-backed Kurdish militia.
The newly-joined tribesmen were previously affiliates of SDF’s Deir Ezzor Military Council (DEMC) and operated under the central operations room in Al-Busayrah.
It is worth noting that armed clashes broke out last week between armed tribal groups and affiliates of the DEMC, on one side, and the SDF, on the other, in the northern and western countryside of Deir Ezzor Governorate.
The fighting erupted after the Kurdish militia arrested the head of the military council, Ahmad Abu Khawla also known as Ahmed Khabil. The Arab leader was lured by the SDF to a senior meeting in the rural areas of Al-Hasakah and subsequently detained.
Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut on 30 August for meetings with Lebanese officials to discuss simmering tensions on the border with Israel.
His arrival comes following reports that Washington has stepped up efforts to de-escalate the situation at the border between Israeli troops and Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, as over the past few weeks, the two sides have threatened each other with being “sent back to the stone age.”
Tensions spiked earlier this year after Tel Aviv discovered a new Hezbollah outpost located 100 meters inside the occupied territories. Nonetheless, while part of the outpost has since been taken down, the Lebanese government maintains the area belongs to Lebanon.
In an exclusive report by The Cradle, columnist Hasan Illaik revealed last month how Hezbollah has significantly beefed up its presence on the Israeli border, setting up multiple posts and watchtowers. The resistance group this week also revealed its new arsenal of surface-to-air missiles.
Hochstein’s visit to the Lebanese capital will also coincide with the arrival of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
The US and Iran have been holding indirect negotiations over the past several weeks that have so far achieved a prisoner release deal, and the unfreezing of Iranian funds illegally seized abroad. In spite of this, Washington has continued to build up its military presence inside Syria and in the Persian Gulf to “confront Iran.”
The US and Iranian officials arrived in Beirut on the same day when the UN Security Council is set to vote on renewing the mandate of the controversial UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is set to expire on Thursday.
According to Lebanese media reports – and despite strong protests from Beirut – the draft resolution to be voted on includes a provision that allows UNIFIL troops to operate independently of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon.
Israel this week called for allowing UNIFIL troops to operate freely of the Lebanese army. The US and the UK also back this provision at the UNSC.
On Monday, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned about the attempts to allow UNIFIL troops to operate freely, noting that the current UNSC draft resolution is “aimed at turning the international peacekeepers into Israeli spies.”
On the 6th anniversary of the liberation of the eastern Lebanese outskirts, Sayyed Nasrallah stresses that Israeli threats increase the Resistance’s determination and strength.
The Secretary-General of Hezbollah Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah confirmed on Monday that the Lebanese national strategic Army, People, and Resistance equation has achieved resounding victories.
In his speech on the Second Liberation — the sixth anniversary of the liberation of the eastern outskirts of Lebanon — Sayyed Nasrallah said that there are forces in Lebanon that bet on the survival and victory of the militants in the outskirts, recalling that at the time, the Resistance took the decision and entered the battle with full force.
Sayyed Nasrallah explained that the Lebanese government at the time “did not authorize the Lebanese army to launch an attack on the militants in the outskirts due to US pressure.”
Moreover, he revealed that “the Lebanese army was threatened by the Americans to have any aid cut off if it initiated an attack on the militants in the Irsal outskirts.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: The government did not authorize the #Lebanese army to launch an attack on the militants in the outskirts due to #US pressure. Moreover, the Lebanese army was threatened by the Americans to have any aid cut off if it initiated… https://t.co/6O5MmJoa7F
The Lebanese leader hailed the Army, People, and Resistance equation, stressing that it led to resounding victories, citing the liberation of the outskirts as another example of this success.
Resistance in West Bank is purely coupled with Palestinian will
During his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah affirmed that the Resistance in the occupied West Bank goes purely hand in hand with the Palestinian will, noting that “in light of the rising [Palestinian] resistance in the West Bank, the Israeli enemy rushed to attribute it to Iran and depict the events as an Iranian plot, suggesting that the Palestinians there are mere instruments.”
“[With this approach], they [the Israelis] are trying to trick the whole world and the region,” he added.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: "In light of the rising [#Palestinian] resistance in the West Bank, the Israeli enemy rushed to attribute it to #Iran and depict the events as an #Iranian plot, suggesting that the Palestinians there are mere instruments. [With… https://t.co/eblVqh4fBb
Sayyed Nasrallah touched on the Israeli officials’ threats, noting that the Israeli enemy, throughout the struggle with the Resistance, carried out massive assassinations but was still unable to break the Resistance’s will.
The Lebanese Resistance leader pointed to the futility of the Israeli threats, stressing that neither verbal threats nor the actual implementation of these threats would stop the Resistance and its movements. On the contrary, it will rather increase its stubbornness, determination, and strength.
Addressing the Israeli enemy, Sayyed Nasrallah said “Israel” must admit that it is in a historical, existential, and strategic dilemma with no way out.
The Hezbollah Secretary-General reiterated the Resistance’s previous position, which warned that any assassination that targets a Lebanese, Palestinian, or Iranian personnel, among others, on Lebanese soil cannot be tolerated.
He underlined that the Resistance “will not allow Lebanon to be an arena for assassinations, and we will not accept changing the existing rules of engagement. The Israelis should be very well aware of this fact.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: "We will not allow #Lebanon to be an arena for assassinations, and we will not accept changing the existing rules of engagement. The Israelis should be very well aware of this fact." pic.twitter.com/52zOh4Vzml
Sayyed Nasrallah also called for true solidarity with prisoners in Palestine, as well as political prisoners in Bahrain.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: "It is imperative to truly stand in solidarity with the prisoners in #Palestine and the political prisoners in #Bahrain." https://t.co/i76fe7JgnR
Syria, allies capable of liberating east of Euphrates
On the Syrian front, Sayyed Nasrallah said the ongoing events the country is witnessing are but part of an American project, in which “the US sought help from a number of regional countries that actually supported it,” stressing that “the actual leader since day one of the war on Syria was the US and the US ambassador in Damascus as per his own admission.”
Sayyed Nasrallah also pointed out that the armed Takfiris were “merely foolish tools [employed] in the American project,” as the US forces returned to Iraq under the pretext of [fighting] ISIS, and under the same pretext, they entered to occupy the eastern Euphrates region.
Sayyed Nasrallah called on the Syrian people to remember “the alternative that they [the Americans] were preparing for,” and the moment they realized that the military project had failed and that Syria had begun to recover, they imposed the Caesar Act and the sanctions which resulted in a harsh blockade.
The Resistance leader added that instead of blaming those who besieged and starved the Syrian people, the blame is directed to the opposite side.
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted that the most important Syrian oil and gas fields east of the Euphrates are looted by the Americans every day and prevented from returning to the Syrian government, stressing that Syria and its allies are simply capable of liberating the east of the Euphrates, which is an area occupied by US forces.
The Hezbollah chief warned that the fighting in the east of the Euphrates might turn into a regional and international conflict. He also explained that the conflict will not be against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), saying, “If the Americans want to fight by themselves, so be it. This will be the real battle that will change all equations.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah: "If the #Americans want to fight by themselves, so be it. This will be the real battle that will change all equations."#Syriapic.twitter.com/FkVzTbdNMN
Regarding the Lebanese file, Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that some sides want to turn the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) into spies for the Israeli occupation.
He said the Lebanese government is seeking to fix a mistake committed last year that violates Lebanese sovereignty, expressing the Resistance’s support for the Lebanese government and hoping that Lebanon’s friends will help make this amendment.
In a related context, Sayyed Nasrallah wondered whether the Lebanese officials would dare to flex muscles in the face of a US envoy, considering that they are now flexing muscles in the face of the French.
Speaking about the Lebanese dialogue, the Lebanese Resistance leader affirmed that Hezbollah is not afraid of dialogue and is ready for it, “because we are not weak, and because we are decision-makers.”
“We do not beg dialogue from anyone.”
Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that those who want a president to build a Lebanese state that confronts Hezbollah rather than a state that solves people’s problems serve the declared, obvious goal of “Israel”.
He said some sides believe that their dreams can only be realized over the wreckage of Lebanon.
The Lebanese leader confirmed that Hezbollah is in dialogue with the Free Patriotic Movement, noting that his party is in dialogue on behalf of itself and not on behalf of the rest of its allies.
Sayyed Nasrallah revealed that the file of administrative and financial decentralization was presented to Hezbollah, stressing that if an agreement is reached on a draft, “we are interested in discussing it with other parties.”
In the same context, he indicated that this proposal consists of a large number of articles and requires a majority for approval in Parliament, stressing that an important period of time awaits Lebanon in September, in reference to the the Lebanese presidential election.
Elsewhere, Sayyed Nasrallah confirmed the continuation of the path of Sayyed Moussa Al-Sadr in resistance and defending the Palestinian cause, as well as in believing in a Lebanon that refuses division and fragmentation.
Sayyed Nasrallah recalled the absence of Imam Al-Sadr and his two companions, saying, “We express our solidarity and stand by our brothers in the Amal movement, who have borne this issue.”
At the beginning of his speech, Sayyed Nasrallah consoled the Lebanese with the death of Talal Salman, the publisher of the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, describing him as one of the great pillars of the Lebanese and Arab press.
He added that Salman was truly a great fighter and part of the Resistance in its intellectual and media arenas, and supported it in all its stages in Lebanon, Palestine, and the region until the last breath.
A general view of a base of the United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) at the border between Lebanon and occupied Palestine, in the southern village of Markaba, Friday, April 7, 2023 (AP)
As the UNIFIL mission nears its expiry date, the US, France, and their allies, seek to turn UNIFIL into an independent body unlinked to the Lebanese Armed Forces in favor of Israeli security.
The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) mission is set to expire on August 31st, 2023, and as such the UN Security Council (UNSC) has begun discussions to renew the UNIFIL missions in Lebanon. However, the UNSC has been seeking to implement certain changes pertaining to the extent and limitations of the UNIFIL activities in Lebanon as those are bound, for now, by a certain agreement between Lebanon, through its Armed Forces, and the UNSC.
In a new report published by the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, it was revealed that Lebanon’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Abdullah Bou Habib was two days late to join the UNSC meetings debating the decision to extend the UNIFIL mission on August 31st, and the framework anticipated the new era.
Lebanon delays engagement: ‘cannot persuade the West’
While Bou Habib flew to join the council on Thursday morning, the Lebanese Diplomatic-Military delegation, set to conduct discussions, according to Al-Akhbar, aims to “coordinate with members of the Council, in particular the major Powers, to arrive at a formula suited to Lebanon’s prerogatives in terms of the competence of the international forces.”
The Lebanese authorities, according to the report, had not been keeping up with the military, political, and diplomatic movement of the US, France, and their allies, vis-a-vis the decision to extend UNIFIL. Only two months ago Lebanon began tracking such movements despite the fact that tensions at the southern Israeli withdrawal line have been mounting for several months.
The delay reminded the report and brought back memories of a similar incident that happened a year ago when Lebanon was also delayed in engaging in the extension talks resulting in the country playing “the role of recipient of the extension resolution,” which was amended.
Al-Akhbar notes that last year, the amendments included granting the UNIFIL mission the “freedom of movement to their soldiers and vehicles without keeping pace with or taking authorization from the [Lebanese] army.” In other words, UNIFIL will be able to move amidst local regions both announced and unannounced and independent of Lebanese Armed Forces convoys.
Al-Akhbar stressed that such actions made the Lebanese authorities appear to continue to be “prisoners of the same [old] policies that are based on the satisfaction of the major Powers, especially the United States.”
According to Al-Akhbar, communications between Bou Habib and Lebanese Prime Miniter of the caretaker government Najib Mikati depicted great pessimism in Lebanon’s ability to alter any of the already suggested and drafted amendments made by the US, France, and allies, during the past two months. As such, it appeared, Al-Akhbar underscored, that the most the two officials had hoped for was “a reference, albeit shy, to the importance of coordination between the international forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
The report noted that alongside Mikati and Bou Habib, a number of government and military officials either allied to the US or are considered in a way affiliated to it, have argued that “Lebanon cannot persuade the West.” As a result, it added, there has been a clear crackdown amongst the negotiation military-diplomatic delegation at the UNSC given that those not close to the US argued that “Lebanon can work vigorously with Russian and Chinese support to achieve the goal.”
Americo-Israeli goals embedded in extension clauses
Al-Akhbar also revealed, citing its sources, that the US has been exerting pressure on Lebanese officials to adhere to the new French draft of the extension of the UNIFIL.
On Monday, August 21, Washington’s Security Council delegate, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, opened her statement at the UNSC with a discussion of events in Occupied Palestine, condemning the operations carried out by the Resistance as it aims to liberate the country from Israeli occupation.
The delegate then connects the events and Israeli security concerns with Lebanese events and the new French draft for the UNIFIL extension.
Thomas-Greenfield said “The United States also remains deeply concerned by Hezbollah’s provocative actions along the blue line. This represents an increasing threat to Lebanon’s peace and security, as well as Israel’s,” adding that “We [US] are committed to extending a robust UNIFIL Mission that can perform its duties independent of the Lebanese Armed Forces.”
In this statement for Thomas-Greefield, the US has integrated and linked the renewal of UNIFIL with the “freedom of movement clause”. Al-Akhbar highlighted the equation imposed by the US delegate as such: “There is no going back and no extension without freedom of movement.”
Not only did the US link the “freedom of movement” clause as a prerequisite for the extension of UNIFIL, Thomas-Greenfield, according to the report, had also added a clause stating there will be imposed “national duties that will correct the performance of the Lebanese Armed Forces accused by America, Israel and their allies of not carrying out their border duties to pursue Hezbollah’s activities.”
Al-Akhbar sources further indicated that in addition, the renewal decision “may entail a decision by the European Community directing its UNIFIL units, in particular France, which has over 900 military personnel, to take appropriate action to carry out its mission and to maintain the security of its soldiers and civilians.”
Al-Akhbar then went on to link the delay of Bou Habib, which was allegedly due to a lack of funds for travel, to the submission of some Lebanese authorities to US pressure and demands. Al-Akhbar revealed that Bou Habib was clearly under US pressure, a hypothesis further proven when the Ministry of Finance announced, on August 23, that it had disbursed travel provisions as early as July 19.
The newspaper’s report also emphasized that not only did Mikati delay Bou Habib’s travel, he even withdrew his delegate, Ziad Mikati, from the military-diplomatic delegation accompanying Bou Habib to New York, noting that Ziad Mikati was withdrawn from the delegation right before Bou Habib would have requested, on behalf of Hezbollah and Amal movement, to join Bou Habib as part of the diplomatic-military delegation.
According to the newly published report, Mikati has positioned himself in a non-confrontational manner, saying that the extension has become a reality, a fait accompli, regardless of Lebanon’s concerns regarding the amendments, including freedom of movement. There is no need to confront America and France.”
It is also worth noting that Bou Habib had reduced his stay in New York to four days despite that it was initially supposed to extend from August 22 until September 1.
The commandership of the Lebanese Army has announced that it does not recognize the Blue Line set by the United Nations over the Shebaa farms in the west of Lebanon.
The announcement was made by General Mounir Shehadeh, Lebanese government’s coordinator during his visit to the Blue Line area where the officials of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon [UNIFIL] were invited, IRNA reported from Turkish Anadolu Agency [AA] on Wednesday.
The Lebanese Army commandership had organized such a visit to make the global society and ambassadors get informed of the situation of 13 border areas where there is a conflict between Lebanon and the occupied Palestine.
According to the UNIFIL, the Blue Line, stretching for 120km along Lebanon’s southern frontier, is a key to “peace” in the region. It is not a border, but a “line of withdrawal.” It was set by the United Nations in 2000 for the practical purpose of confirming the withdrawal of “Israeli” Occupation Forces [IOF] from the south of Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the forces of the “Israeli” entity’s regime have tried over and over to breach the line.
As millions of Ukrainian women and children fled into the supposed safety of NATO, their new hosts were researching how to rape them.
Because our objective is to identify the guilty parties implicated in Ukraine’s child sex trafficking industry, whilst also exonerating the innocent, we follow the same general path of my earlier 15th July piece. Thus, we again elaborate on the fake charges against specific Russian citizens before looking at trafficking both within Ukraine and from Ukraine to countries further west, as well as re-examining the White House’s porta parties and further revelations regarding MI6 related child sex trafficking into Ireland so that others might have a firmer foundation to work from. Although evidence adumbrated hereunder indicates there is a mountain of abuse occurring that the authorities in Washington, Dublin and Kiev are deliberately ignoring because it does not suit their nefarious agendas, collecting that evidence as a prelude to achieving justice for the victims must continue through efforts like this.
Targeting Russians
NATO’s proxies have charged Russian Child Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, along with Russian President Putin, with the apparently unprecedented war crime of trafficking some 20,000 Ukrainian children into Russia. As Putin retains his gunslinger’s gait from his younger days as a security official and as Lvova-Belova is mother to over 20 biological and adopted children, and is married to a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church, to which she seems devoted, they make a suspiciously odd coupling to any neutral observer trying to figure out what MI6 funded Ukrainian media outlets are up to here.
The facts are that the Russian authorities found themselves lumbered with 20,000 children needing care and they delegated that task, as far as was practicable, to the Russian Orthodox Church and allied bodies such as the All-Russian Congress of the Movement of Children and Youth, where Lvova-Belova has been particularly active.
This gave Ukraine’s Nazis, working through the anti-Christs of the Orwellian named Religious Information Service of Ukraine, the hypocrites of the Latin Catholic Church in league with them and other opportunistic bodies beholden to NATO ammunition to attack Russia in general and its Orthodox Church and allied bodies in particular. It is on that basis that we proceed.
Child Soldiers
Even NATO’s front groups admit the dangers those supposedly trafficked Ukrainian children would face from being enlisted as child soldiers in Zelensky’s doomed Wehrmacht. As early as April 2022, UNICEF reported that almost two-thirds of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children had been displaced and that 80% of them were in immediate need of cash or financial support. That piece goes on to talk about Ukrainian children being forced into the child sex industry in Turkey, Slovenia and Hungary.
Although the article makes vague charges against Russia and her allies, because those charges are almost always levelled using the passive case they are, like NATO’s more specific ones against Lvova-Belova, most likely without any foundation in actual fact but are just crass NATO propaganda to help them win their unconscionable war.
The Scum of the Earth
Arthur Koestler’s Scum of the Earth recounts how displaced folk like him fled in the face of Hitler’s unstoppable juggernaut which flattened all that got in its way. As the Wehrmacht overran France, the Luftwaffe machine gunned fleeing women and children in their thousands, not so much out of vindictiveness but because they followed the American maxim of mowing down anything and everyone that moved. War remains the ugliest of businesses.
War, as American war crimes from one end of the globe to the other testify, is hell and, whether it is the Fall of France or the Liberation of Mariupol, children make the easiest and most vulnerable of targets. I have seen it in South Armagh where British paratroopers gunned down 12 year old Majella O’Hare because she was going to Church and in Damascus where Armenian mothers had to evacuate their children lest they get their legs sliced off by incoming American shrapnel.
Here are the accounts of over 100,000 Japanese-American children treated like dogs in the United States during the course of World War Two. And here are further accounts of this racist crime against humanity, which was visited upon Japanese-American children and not Italian-Americans or German-Americans. Here are accounts of how Croatians interned Serbian children during that same war.
And here is the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has been recently guilty of crimes against humanity in western Ukraine, surveying the awful treatment meted out to children during the wars of the last 100 years. Polish children interned in Germany, Russian children during the 1921-23 famine, the Spanish Civil War, Yugoslavia 1942, Czechoslovakian Jews 1944, Kashmir, Greece, Laos, MI6’s Biafran genocide, Thailand, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Peru, South Sudan, Liberia, Syria, Congo, Gaza.
And though those are only for starters, I doubt Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, working on Pope Francis’ orders, mentioned any of them when he discussed “the Vatican’s ‘advocacy’ for the return of the estimated 19,000 Ukrainian children who have been brought to Russia since the renewed invasion on 24 February 2022”. when he recently met Creepy Joe Biden at the White House.
Then there is the world-famous Vienna Boys’ Choir who were interned in Australia during World War Two and who, this article allegedwere lucky as “three other boys who were originally supposed to join the choir on tour, but whose plans were scuppered when their voices broke, eventually found themselves fighting for the German Army. All three died on the Russian front”. As arch-collaborator Cardinal Zuppi is noArchbishop Daniel Mannix, Lvova-Belova might be forgiven for assuming His Eminence might like those children in her care to take their chances amidst the carnage of this needless war. Or, perhaps, in Iraq where the Yanks murdered over a million children for the hell of it, or in Yemen, where over 400,00, half of them children, perished to further NATO’s hegemonic aims.
The fact that commercial quantities of cocaine were found in the White House’s war room is not only a further indication that the Biden regime is a den of depravity but it is reminiscent of the antics of Jeffrey Epstein who, lest we forget, brought serial sex offender and serial war criminal POTUS Bill Clinton to his Orgy Island honeytrap on countless occasions, most likely to sniff, as then Vice POTUS Biden probably would, the captive children they trafficked there.
Take Me Home to Mayo
Porta parties are not the preserve of either Dubai or the White House. As my earlier article showed, even remote Mayo in Ireland is in on the act. Take Me Home To Mayo is a catchy song in memory of Mayo man Michael Gaughan who, with fellow Mayo man Frank Stagg, died on hunger strike in London. Besides the traffickers shown after 5:00 carrying Stagg’s coffin, the disgraceful way Stagg’s mortal remains were treated is of interest as his brother Emmet, who was for long a leading member of the Irish Labour Party, was let off with a caution after being nabbed in the grounds of the Irish President having a porta party with an underage male prostitute. As that was most likely not Emmet’s first rodeo and as he had been vehemently opposed to his brother being buried with dignity, one might assume MI5 Jeffrey Epsteined him.
As Pastor Clifford Peeples, who fronted some of MI6’s most notorious anti Catholic death squads during the so-called Irish Troubles, is now fighting the same dirty war against Orthodox Christians on behalf of MI6 in Ukraine, one must see the guiding hand of MI6 and the CIA in why the Vatican’s top brass collude with such notorious sectarian butchers.
But even if Peeples and his war crimes were only a sideshow, as Ireland’s American overlords readily admit, for their own nefarious reasons, that Ireland is a major child sex trafficking hub, as the Clintons have major hideaways just south of Dublin, as Tusla, Ireland’s notorious not-fit-for-purpose child protection agency, admits scores of Ukrainian children have gone missing and as there is further documented evidence that vulnerable Ukrainian children have been groomed and trafficked into Ireland those, Irish and Ukrainians alike, running these porta parties have very serious questions to answer.
Ukraine has been a source, transit, and destination country for human trafficking since the early 1990s. Men, women, and children are trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and begging and sexual and other forms of exploitation. They are not my words but those of USAID which, with the National Endowment for Democracy, is one of the CIA’s main tools of subversion.
Although USAID goes on to implicate Russia, along with Poland and Turkey, its own figures do not substantiate their Russophobic charge as they claim most of those at risk are in the western oblasts adjoining NATO’s front line states where, as this pro NATO source claims, web searches for Ukrainian refugee porn have surged.
Just so you understand that, as these millions of Ukrainian women and children fled into the supposed safety of NATO, their new hosts were researching how to rape them. The article then goes on to instance cases from Poland and other Russophobic hotbeds where Ukrainian women and children were propositioned.
This pro-NATO article, meanwhile, cites a 2016 report “on the epidemic of trafficking in Ukraine, as it remains one of Europe’s most notorious sources of human trafficking. Since 1991, more than 160,000 men, women and children have been exploited for labor, sex, forced begging and organ removal, according to a mid-2015 report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM)”.
Part of the reason for this is that UNICEF and similar groups just use these never-ending tragedies as little other than excuses to rattle their self-serving collection boxes and get tens of millions from NATO on condition that they sing NATO’s tune. That has been the story in ISIS occupied Syria and it is the story in Nazi infested Ukraine. It is not only wrong but must be exposed as being both as wrong and as evil as transposing their own war crimes onto Maria Lvova-Belova.
Despite all efforts to eliminate the Lebanese resistance, Tel Aviv faces a stronger, bolder, and undeterred Hezbollah, now locked and loaded on Israel’s northern border.
“In April 2022, a truck with a container on it suddenly appeared on the Lebanese side in front of Avivim. The IDF watched it and did not understand its purpose. The truck placed the container near the border and inside it were stationed several members of the Radwan Force, Hezbollah’s elite force, armed with small arms but equipped with observation systems. A short time later, a concrete structure was built next to the container, and it became a permanent position.
In its wake, more than 30 such posts sprung up, spread out along the entire length of the border, from the sea to the mountain, at a very short distance from the international border. Armed Hezbollah members stay in all of them, and during the day they carry guns, but at night they walk around armed with long weapons, and they also have machine guns and sniper rifles.
Some of them are observation posts that monitor and document the IDF’s activities across the border, some of them are alert posts that sit on entry routes into Lebanon and are designed to delay Israeli forces that try to enter.
Inside are stationed people from the Radwan force, Hezbollah’s offensive force, which is a different unit from Hezbollah’s ground defense forces – which are mainly concentrated in villages – and has its own chain of command. What started as a few expanded companies that returned from the war in Syria, has since become a force that now has a number of brigades and more than 15 battalions deployed along the border with Israel. Their positions and armed presence are blatant violations of UN Resolution 1701, but the UNIFIL [United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] force does not dare to confront them.
Some of these forces are on constant alert to launch an attack into Israel several hours after the order was given. It is still unclear to Israel what the trigger was which pushed Hezbollah to deploy its forces to the front, right across the border, but this comes within a trend that has been going on for four years, in which Hezbollah is trying to exacerbate the friction with Israel.”
The above excerpt is from an article written on 7 July by Alon Ben David, an Israeli military commentator for the Hebrew newspaper Maariv, in which he comments on Hezbollah fighters setting up two tents in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms area.
Israel considers this area part of its territory since it occupied the lands – along with the Syrian Golan Heights – in 1967. Despite Tel Aviv’s questionable territorial claim, the Israeli army refrained from approaching the Hezbollah tents for 50 days, while Israeli officials and media professionals expressed anger over what they perceived as a violation of their country’s sovereignty.
As Ben David notes, according to Israeli military intelligence, the significance of these new outposts lies beyond the two tents. Seventeen years ago, on July 12, 2006, Israel initiated the Second Lebanon War against Lebanon with the objective of destroying Hezbollah and expelling the resistance group from southern Lebanon.
At the war’s end on 14 August, 2006, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1701, prohibiting any military presence in the area between the Litani River and the Lebanese-Palestinian borders, with the exception of the Lebanese army and international peacekeeping forces of UNIFIL.
Now, 17 years later, Israeli military intelligence closely monitors Hezbollah fighters along the border. These are not isolated individuals but, as Ben David highlights, brigades and battalions prepared to launch an attack into occupied Palestine when ordered to do so, according to Israeli analysis.
The public deployment of Hezbollah forces on the border did not begin in April 2022. Prior to that, Israel had been accusing an “environmental association” called Green Without Borders of forming a cover for Hezbollah to monitor the Israeli occupation army’s movements. Israeli intelligence treated every “environmental observatory” of the association, which claimed its main goal to be planting trees in southern Lebanon, as a military observatory.
The irrelevance of UNIFIL’s ‘peacekeepers,’ and Resolution 1701
In April 2017, Hezbollah organized a media tour on the border in which a resistance field officer explained to reporters the defensive measures implemented by the Israeli army off Lebanese territory, in anticipation of a potential future attack from Lebanon.
During the visit, Hezbollah fighters – along with their military equipment – appeared in the southern Litani area, in front of the media’s photographers. It was the first time since August 2006 that Hezbollah troops were publicly seen in this region: one even carried an anti-aircraft missile launcher on his shoulder. It was then, in 2017, that Hezbollah made clear it no longer recognized the restrictions of UN Resolution 1701.
Three years later, in May 2020, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah stated in an interview with Al-Mayadeen that:
“We are not against the survival of UNIFIL forces or against the positive relationship with them, but reducing the number of UNIFIL does not concern us. And if UNIFIL’s tasks are reviewed, we will demand that UNIFIL be on the other side of the border.”
These UN-mandated UNIFIL forces were supposed to include around 15,000 soldiers whose mission was to assist the Lebanese army in extending its authority in the area south of the Litani River.
However, in 2023, the number of UNIFIL soldiers is expected to reach 10,000 from 48 countries. While the majority of soldiers are non-Europeans, the leadership of UNIFIL has traditionally been held by officers from NATO countries such as Italy and Spain, and its strike force is French.
Yet according to Ben David, the UNIFIL “peacekeepers” do not dare to confront Hezbollah in the south. In 2021, UNIFIL refrained from implementing a decision it had made – at Israel’s instigation – to install surveillance cameras in specific locations in southern Lebanon.
At that time, the resistance party’s supporters in the south, particularly in municipal councils, accused UNIFIL of spying for Israel, which led to the freezing of the camera project.
In 2022, UNIFIL requested the mediation of Lebanese officials to persuade Hezbollah fighters to remove a temporary outpost they had established near the border, which obstructed the movement of its patrols.
Additionally, in the same year, UNIFIL reported to the UN on multiple occasions that it had discovered training and shooting fields within its area of operation. Despite these challenges to their mandate, the international forces remained unable to effectively address them.
The field performance of Hezbollah in the south and the cautious approach adopted by UNIFIL are reflective of the shifts in the balance of power in the region.
In 2017, when Hezbollah publicly announced the appearance of its fighters in the south, its leadership had a sense of assurance due to the protection provided to its rear in Syria.
The Damascus government and its allies had regained the military initiative in the Syrian war, particularly in the southern, central, and western regions of the country.
Two game-changing factors
However, the most significant changes can be attributed to two factors: Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and its precision missile project.
The fighters of the Radwan Force gained unparalleled experience on the Syrian battlefield. This conflict honed Hezbollah’s combat capabilities, allowing its members – especially the Radwan Force units – to engage in offensive battles across vast areas, utilizing a wide range of weapons, including air support.
The war in Syria enabled Hezbollah’s leadership to increase the number of elite forces while also upgrading their armament and equipment. Israel now perceives the Radwan Force as a significant threat and aims to neutralize these forces in any future conflict. Failing to do so would mean that the Israeli occupation army would have to confront the Radwan Force on Palestinian land in the future.
As for the precision missile project, the Israeli army sought to thwart it, whether by preventing the transfer of large numbers of these missiles from Iran via Syria to Lebanon, or by preventing the establishment of facilities to convert “stupid” missiles into “smart” missiles inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah’s access to thousands of these missiles capable of hitting “any point” in occupied Palestine robs Tel Aviv of its ability to wage war whenever it wants. For more than a decade, the Israeli security establishment has considered precision missiles a weapon that breaks its military advantage.
Simply put, these missiles can be loaded with large amounts of explosives and launched to hit their targets with precision, wherever they may be inside Israel. Practically, not just in theory, all Israeli military sites are within range of missiles that are now capable of destroying them. The discussion here is no longer only about the number of missiles, but rather about their quality – and the “quality” of the targets they destroy.
Shutting down Israeli claims that its army was able to thwart transfers of precision missiles from Iran and Syria to Lebanon – or their manufacturing in hidden facilities along that path – Nasrallah announced in 2018 that the precision missile project had, in fact, been completed.
In his speech, the Hezbollah leader confirmed that the Lebanese resistance now possesses a number of precision missiles that enable it to wage war with Israel without fear of depleting its stocks.
Although Nasrallah denied that his party possesses factories for precision missiles, he did not deny the existence of facilities that convert inaccurate missiles into precision ones, which is what Israel was warning about.
What applies to precision missiles also includes remotely piloted aircraft. The general rule that Israel’s military adheres to is that every new weapons system that Iran announces (that can reasonably be expected to be transferred to Lebanon) is, inevitably, already in the custody of Hezbollah. As an example of Iran’s efficacy in stealthily transferring its military hardware, note the presence of Iranian drones in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In addition, Tel Aviv has noted what Hezbollah has obtained from the stores of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) since the Syrian war erupted in 2011. Israel, then, is faced with two deadly weapons that Hezbollah possesses: the Radwan Force and precision weapons.
These two weapons gave Hezbollah the confidence to break the restrictions imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and to deploy its troops along the border with occupied Palestine.
It is true that these two weapons are currently only being utilized to strike a balance of deterrence against Israel,but Tel Aviv is fully aware that the accumulation of defensive capabilities will inevitably lead – in the event it fails to curb them – to changing the “combat doctrine” of Hezbollah and its allies from defensive to offensive.
Two deadly weapons, which Israel fears, are today on its borders, and are poised to wage war one day. In the 2006 war, Israel sought to get rid of Hezbollah forever, and failed. After 17 years, Tel Aviv is back to square one: Frantically trying to prevent the resistance from storming the Galilee.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
Hezbollah has recently set up two military tents inside the occupied Shebaa Farms, which has been under illegal Israeli control since 1967
Israel has warned Lebanon through diplomatic channels that it is prepared to use military force in order to dismantle two armed posts it said Hezbollah set up inside Israeli territory, Al-Akhbar daily reported on 22 June.
These Hezbollah military sites were reportedly established around two weeks ago near the Shebaa Farms – an area historically disputed between Lebanon and Syria that has been under Israeli occupation for decades.
According to the newspaper report, Israel’s diplomatic message was “to the effect that unless Hezbollah evacuated the two sites, the Israeli army would itself evacuate them ‘by force.’”
It adds that the Israeli engineering work on the border in early June, which prompted popular Lebanese protests and deployment of the Lebanese and Israeli armies on the border, was an attempt by Israel to remove these Hezbollah posts. At the time, this was not mentioned by Israeli or Arabic media.
The protests “forced the enemy to retreat from its engineering works and to adhere to a new location for their [border] fence,” which had been removed by protesters at the time.
The Hezbollah sites “cross the [UN-recognized] blue line between the two sides, and are occupied by Hezbollah members with their weapons,” an Israeli military correspondent was quoted as saying.
Unnamed European countries reportedly in contact with Hezbollah tried to negotiate a deployment of UNIFIL forces to the area where the armed posts were erected, in the occupied Shebaa Farms. This is outside the “scope” of UNIFIL forces, Al-Akhbar explained.
Additionally, it said that Hezbollah “rejected” any idea of dismantling the posts, and has even reinforced them.
The Israeli military has announced that it aims to deal with the issue through “diplomacy,” as “the tents do not pose a threat to Israel’s security, despite violating its sovereignty.”
“The matter is known and being handled with all the relevant parties,” Israel said. Nonetheless, Israel has threatened to “eventually” use force to deal with the Hezbollah presence in the occupied area.
Al-Akhbar highlights the contradictory language used by the military regarding this issue, as well as Tel Aviv’s use of “formal complaints and diplomatic messages,” saying that through such language Israel is “distancing itself as much as possible from the potential use of military force.”
Hezbollah has erected dozens of observation posts, watchtowers, and military sites on the border with Israel.
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An Israeli official describes the confrontations in Kfar Chouba as Hezbollah taking advantage of internal strife to challenge “Israel”.
In an interview with Channel 12, Yuli Edelstein, chief of the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee of the Israeli occupation, described the confrontation as Hezbollah’s taking advantage of intra-zionist strife to challenge “Israel”.
“What happened today on the Lebanese border is a challenge to Israel and a provocation that it does not want to be dragged into,” Yuli Edelstein told Channel 12.
“This is exactly what I warned about previously, which is that our enemies, Hezbollah and the likes of it, could misinterpret the problems we have, and decide that this is the right time to challenge us.”
“They feel that there are cracks between us so that they can at least unite, and this is exactly what is happening,” he added.
The Lebanese Army set up points in Kfar Chouba, southern Lebanon, near the borders in an affirmation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity over the land, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported on Friday.
The correspondent reported that there was relative calm on the borders, adding that one Israeli military vehicle stood near the withdrawal line after the Israeli occupation forces stopped bulldozing the area, though there was no escalation of any sort.
The people of Kfar Chouba and Al-Arqoub took to praying near the withdrawal line, challenging the Israeli occupation soldiers who had been mobilized there on high alert. Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces remained in the area near their sites, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported.
On Thursday, Israeli occupation forces carried out bulldozing operations outside what is known as the “withdrawal line” in Kfar Chouba.
The official spokesperson of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) Andrea Tenenti announced that they were following closely the recent events in the border village (in the triangle border intersection between Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine), and called for employing coordination mechanisms to diffuse the tense situation to prevent any violations.
A Lebanese citizen was wounded by tear gas canisters fired by occupation soldiers at residents in the Lebanese village of Kfar Chouba.
Al Mayadeen correspondent reported that Lebanese youths from the village of Kfar Chouba in southern Lebanon removed barbed wires placed by Israeli occupation forces and filled in a tunnel they had dug in the area.
A Lebanese citizen was wounded by tear gas canisters fired by occupation soldiers at residents in the area, while the Lebanese army soldiers took combat positions.
"جنود الجيش اللبناني يأخذون وضعيات قتالية في نقطة #كفرشوبا الحدودية في مواجهة جنود الاحتلال".
Residents of #KfarChouba stand against the Israeli violations of #Lebanon's sovereignty as the occupation set up barbed wires and began digging a tunnel into the area.
Residents of the Lebanese border village are still confronting the Israeli forces in the area as the IOF deploy… pic.twitter.com/7Uv61zKGif
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) June 9, 2023
Al Mayadeen correspondent highlighted that this is the first time since liberation in 2000 that the Lebanese army is deployed to this area.
Our correspondent reported that a Lebanese car was hit by a tear gas canister fired by occupation soldiers at the Kfar Chouba border point.
Israeli occupation forces fired smoke bombs and tear gas on people in the area, who crossed the barbed wires placed by the occupation and headed into advanced points near the borders with occupied Palestine.
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) June 9, 2023
The occupation forces also deployed a Merkava tank and soldiers from the occupied site of Al-Samaqah to the point of tension with the Lebanese army.
Israeli occupation violations continued in Kfar Chouba on Friday as hundreds of soldiers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) flocked to the location of a sit-in staged by residents standing up against Israeli violations in the area.
Lebanese farmer, Ismail Nasser, was seen standing in the face of an Israeli bulldozer to defend his land against Israeli aggression on #Lebanon's border.
The Israeli bulldozer was seen trying to crush the #Lebanese farmer as it continued its operations.
In a shocking turn of events, Zionist occupation forces have unleashed a brutal assault on the people of Kfarshuba and Al-Arqoub in the South of Lebanon on Friday.
The demonstrators, who were peacefully protesting against the destruction of their land, were targeted with gas bombs.
This heinous act has caused immense harm and distress among the affected individuals.
In response, the Lebanese army has taken strategic combat positions at the Kfarshuba border point and deployed along the withdrawal line in the Kfarshuba hill. Their presence aims to protect the region from further encroachment and maintain the territorial integrity.
While occupation forces launch their attack on the people of Kfarshuba and Al-Arqoub, UNIFIL forces have remained silent and seemingly passive. Criticism mounts as they are seen merely observing the situation without taking any decisive action to protect the affected individuals.
In an act of self-defense, demonstrators from Kfarshuba and Al-Arqoub have resorted to throwing stones at the attacking soldiers.
Speaking from Kfarshuba, MP Qassem Hashem made a profound statement, declaring that the current events signify a crucial step towards the complete liberation of the remaining land. Hashem emphasized the significance of the national strategy of “the army, the people, and the resistance,” stating that the ongoing situation only serves to reaffirm its importance and necessity.
These areas, which hold significant cultural and historical importance to the residents, are facing the threat of destruction due to ongoing development projects.
Amidst this backdrop, the use of such force has further exacerbated the tensions in the region and sparked outrage among the local population.
Member of Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc Ali Fayyad indicated that the Resistance is monitoring the developments in Kfarshouba and will not allow the enemy to persist on its violations, citing Hezbollah military readiness to confront any Israeli escalation.
Watch the moment our colleague, Al-Manar TV correspondent Ali Shoeib, was hit during the confrontation with the Zionist enemy.
A landmine explosion on the Israeli-Lebanese border on 21 March targeted a military-issue Humvee belonging to the Israeli army, manned by a pair of soldiers involved in a routine engineering operation.
As a result, one soldier suffered a leg amputation in addition to moderate injuries, while the other soldier experienced light injuries from schrapnel. The two were taken to the Galilee Medical center for treatment there and were reported to both be alive.
Referred to as the “Blue Line,” the area is known to contain multiple live minefields following the events of several past conflicts, most notably, the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
صراخ أحد الجنود الصهاينة بعد بتر ساقه بإنفجار لغم ارضي أثناء القيام بأشغال هندسية عند حدود بلدة #عيتا_الشعب ونقله بدبابة ميركافا pic.twitter.com/2AMC0xkLmP
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib 🇱🇧 (@alishoeib1970) March 21, 2023
Sources delineate that the engineering operation the two soldiers were involved in concerned the replacement of the Blue Line’s well-worn fence with a high wall set to be finished within a time period of two years. Simultaneously, Hezbollah was reported to be building new tall observation posts on its side of the border.
These events are outlined by rising tensions between the two, reported by UNIFIL, which broke apart multiple standoffs between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers.
Israel confirms that the explosion was not an attack, as it went off on the Israeli side of the border.
Decades of conflict beginning in the 1980’s up until 2006 have left the Blue Line contaminated with over 400,000 landmines, creating a barrier minefield stretching 120 km across the southern border, reports MAG. In 2006, 4 million cluster bombs were airdropped on Lebanon, 40 percent of which did not explode on impact and are still live. According to the Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor, 3775 causalities of explosive remnants of war (ERWs) were recorded from 1975 up to 2017.
Over the past week, investigations have been ongoing concerning the 13 March bombing at the Megiddo junction in northern Israel that detailed a particular border crossing from Lebanese territory.
According to the Israeli army’s latest findings, the perpetrator crossed the fence using a ladder.
However, according to UN spokesman Andrea Tenenti, “the UNIFIL has not observed any border crossings in the recent days,” referring specifically to the Blue Line.
Lebanese Army on Sunday forced an Israeli patrol to retreat beyond the country’s border with occupied Palestine.
Al-Manar correspondent in south Lebanon Ali Shoeib reported that tensions were high at the border village of Aita Al-Shaab after Israeli forces violated the so-called Blue Line, a line set by the United Nations for the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from Lebanon in 2000.
Our correspondent added that Lebanese Army forces along with angered Lebanese citizens gathered at the area and prevented the occupation forces to advance.
لحظة احتدام التدافع بين الجيش اللبناني وبعض ألأهالي وجنود العدو قرب الخط الأزرق عند حدود بلدة #عيتا_الشعب .
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib 🇱🇧 (@alishoeib1970) March 5, 2023
“On March 5, 2023, between 11:55 a.m & 12:00 p.m., an Israeli enemy patrol violated the Blue Line near point BP 13 (1) – Aita Al-Shaab, at a distance of approximately one meter,” a statement released by the Lebanese Army Command’s Orientation Directorate read.
“Instantly, a Lebanese army patrol intervened and forced the enemy patrol to retreat beyond the Blue Line towards the occupied Palestinian territories.”
The communique added that a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon patrol also arrived at the scene to verify the breach, which is currently being followed up by the Army and UNIFIL.
Few hours after the announcement, the Lebanese Army posted on its Instagram account: “Our border our responsibility… Violation is prohibited.”
The Lebanese Army confronted on Wednesday an ‘Israeli’ violation of the country’s sovereignty at the border area of Metula, Al-Manar TV correspondent in South Lebanon reported.
As the ‘Israeli’ occupation bulldozer attempted to cross the so-called Blue Line between Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories, the Lebanese Army forced the occupation forces to stop the work of the bulldozer and to stay behind the Blue Line.
Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoeib added that tensions were high, noting that an ‘Israeli’ military delegation came to the border area with Lebanon after the measure taken by the Lebanese Army.
The Lebanese Army frequently confronts Zionist occupation forces attempts to cross the Blue Line in a clear violation of the Lebanese sovereignty.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army Command – Directorate of Orientation issued a statement that read the following:
“On 18/01/2023, between 09:00 and 13:00, a blade of a bulldozer belonging to the ‘Israeli’ enemy breached the Blue Line in Marjeyoun Valley near the town of Kfarkila in two stages and for a 2-meter distance. An Army force was deployed to the scene of violation and obliged the ‘Israeli’ enemy to stop its operating along the Blue Line. Additionally, a UNIFIL patrol came to the scene to verify the violation. The breach is being followed up in coordination with the UNIFIL.”
The Lebanese army confronts a breach of the Israeli enemy at the border and forces it to retreat
Barbed wire erected by Zionist enemy to seize a controversial area of Lebanese border town of Adaisseh
In a new violation of the Lebanese sovereignty, the Israeli occupation army erected a barbed wire fence off the Lebanese border town of Adaisseh, seizing more controversial territories.
Upon the Zionist enemy’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon due to the Lebanese Resistance attacks, the United Nations demarcated the Lebanese-Palestinian borders without observing Lebanon’s sovereign rights along all the boundaries. Thus, Lebanon expressed reservations about a number of positions.
The Zionist violation, which came in the context of the enemy’s border measuresin anticipation of a potential ground invasion launched by Hezbollah, was watched by the UNIFIL troops who resorted to stillness on the opposite side.
Meanwhile, the Lebanese authorities did not comment on the incident, knowing that the Lebanese army units raised alert in the scene and classified what happened as an aggression on Lebanon’s sovereignty.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 