NEW LAND GRAB: Israel Threatens to Expand War Into Southern Lebanon to Dislodge Hezbollah
Israel has dictated the terms to the Biden administration, and war with Hezbollah risks major escalation in region
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense head, indicated that he is willing to go to war with Hezbollah to push its “forces” south of the Litani River to the north before Israeli residents on the already stolen land there move back into their homes, according to reports.
The Times of Israel, citing Hebrew reports, said “UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War in 2006, barred Hezbollah from maintaining a military presence south of the Litani, which is located some 18 miles north of the Israel-Lebanon border. Hezbollah has blatantly violated that resolution and regularly launches attacks on Israel from near the border.”
The Atlantic Council reported in 2020 that there is uncertainty “over where exactly Lebanon ends, and Israel begins.” Over the summer, Middle East Eye reported that tensions were running high ever since “the Israeli army finished building a wall in July incorporating the northern part of Al-Ghajar village in the occupied Golan Heights.”
The two countries remain foes, and no official border separates them, except the Blue Line, which is made of blue barrels and runs from the Mediterranean to the Golan to the east.
The report continued
Lebanon considers the northern part of Al-Ghajar as Lebanese, while Israel says it is part of the Golan Heights, a Syrian territory that Israel annexed in 1981 in a move never recognized by the international community.
Gallant said he hopes a diplomatic deal could be made, but said Israel will “act with all the means at its disposal,” including militarily.