Lebanese-Israeli Border Heats Up

Sept. 2, 2019 (EIRNS)—Israel and Hezbollah traded strikes across the Blue Line, yesterday, after Hezbollah lobbed an anti-tank missile that hit an Israeli Wolf armored vehicle parked at military barracks near the Jewish settlement of Afifim. Israel responded with artillery fire across the Blue Line into southern Lebanon for more than two hours.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) fired over 100 shells in the direction the Lebanese missile had come from. No Israeli servicemen were injured, but the Arabic AlHadath TV aired footage of Israeli helicopters taking injured soldiers to a hospital in Haifa, which the Israelis declared was staged, according to a report from TASS today.

The Hezbollah attack is said to be part of the retaliation promised in a speech on Aug. 31 by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to avenge recent Israeli drone strikes on Beirut and other regions. “Israel is taking aggressive measures against the resistance forces in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, and we cannot leave them unanswered,” he said.

Following the Blue Line exchange, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri held phone conversations with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron to inform them of dangerous developments on the Israeli-Lebanese border, Al-Watania news agency reported, citing the premier’s press service.

“The head of the government urged Washington and Paris, as well as the international community, to intervene and prevent a military escalation,” the agency said, according to TASS.