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2023-07-04 15:12:15
A Lebanese newspaper revealed, on Tuesday, that Israel had informed Hezbollah, via Washington, that it does not want war and that it does not intend to forcibly remove a military outpost that the party established on the southern borders of the occupied Shebaa Farms.
On June 21, the official Israeli channel, “Kan”, revealed that a force from “Hezbollah” had “invaded the sovereign territory of the State of Israel, in the Dov Mountain sector (the occupied Shebaa Farms), and set up an armed military site (two tents) there.” .
The Lebanese Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the Hezbollah group, said, on Tuesday, that “last month was full of international mediation at the request of the Israeli enemy to resolve the crisis caused by the presence of the two tents in terms of deterrence.”
She added that Israel “expressed its despair during the Eid al-Adha holiday (last June 28), by delivering a message to Hezbollah through the American ambassador in Beirut, Dorothy Shea, stating that the occupation army does not want war, and will not remove the two tents by force, and that the issue is with the international forces.” operating in the South.
According to the newspaper, “Shea requested an urgent appointment from Prime Minister Najib Mikati to inform him of the letter.”
She indicated that “the ambassador added to the letter that her administration hopes to urge the Lebanese government to reach an understanding between the army command and the international emergency forces to address the crisis of the two tents.”
And she pointed out that “Shea said that the calm in the speech and the absence of additional movements from Hezbollah and the citizens who support it in the aforementioned region helps relieve the tension among the Israelis.”
The newspaper pointed out that the US ambassador stated that the government of Israel “is not in the process of escalating or carrying out any military action in this region, or in other Lebanese regions.”
While there was no immediate response from the US Embassy in Beirut or Hezbollah to the newspaper’s news, a Lebanese government source refused to comment to Anadolu Agency on the news, indicating that this is “a pattern followed, and we do not issue an official statement except in positive cases.”
In a speech by the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, Muhammad Raad, last Saturday, he said, “Any Israeli action to remove the two tents, whatever its level, will cost a war.”
On Sunday, the Israeli Channel 12 revealed the possibility of an “escalation” in light of Hezbollah’s refusal to remove the two tents.
It stated that “Israeli officials made it clear to Hezbollah that they must dismantle the two tents within a specified period of time, and that Israel will remove them, even at the cost of a battle that may last for days.”
In this regard, the Israeli Institute for National Security Research recommended that Tel Aviv not be satisfied with “diplomatic activity” to push Hezbollah to evacuate the two tents, “even if this risks deteriorating to a limited field confrontation.”
And last month, the Lebanese “National Media Agency” (official) stated that “the Lebanese army units in the southern Litani region (the river in the south) were put on maximum alert, and that they took combat positions in response to the threats of the Israeli enemy army to use force to remove a tent that had been erected.” along the Shebaa Farms border line.
The agency pointed out that the “UNIFIL” forces operating in southern Lebanon quoted the Israeli army as saying that “the tents were erected inside the occupied area, and they must be removed,” while the Lebanese army said that “the tent is in a Lebanese area.”
Lebanon accuses Israel of repeated air, land and sea violations of its borders, at a time when Tel Aviv still occupies a part of Lebanese territory estimated at more than 200 square kilometers following its withdrawal in 2000 from southern Lebanon, which it occupied for more than two decades.
TRT Arabic – Agencies
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