Israeli media says Hezbollah fighters roaming border near Al-Jalil
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Israeli media claims that Hezbollah freedom fighters are touring the border area with occupied Palestine in military fatigues.
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A masked person from the video released by the Israeli media
Masked freedom fighters are touring along the UN 2000 Blue Line near the settlement of Dovev in the upper Al-Jalil, Israeli media said Tuesday after publishing a video showing said incident.
"Footage of a group that looks like your stereotypical military unit publicly touring the border is a precedent," Israeli Channel 12 reported.
Israeli media published a video saying that Hezbollah fighters made a tour at the #Lebanese-#Palestinian borders near occupied Al-Jalil.#Lebanon pic.twitter.com/C9OYHfwVTA
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 25, 2023
The video taken from the Israeli side shows no less than eight Hezbollah members, Israeli media said, claiming that "intelligence indicates that they are concealing weapons."
"All the members are wearing similar uniforms and equipment that appears to be of high quality, but their physical structure, which is very different from most Hezbollah fighters who operate on the borders, raises suspicions that there is a trained military force, possibly even from the elite Radwan unit, deployed along the borders," the Israeli channel's news website said.
"All the fighters are masked, and some could be seen carrying go-pros and recording the tour," it added.
According to Israeli media, the Hezbollah unit was first observed by the Israeli occupation forces before the IOF were called to the site and remained there until the freedom fighters left the border area.
"The forces crossed the Blue Line when they treaded closely to the fence at 3 different points, but the instructions given to the forces were to establish a presence before them and allow them to leave the place," sources familiar with the matter told Al Mayadeen.
However, sources close to the Israeli occupation forces said the Hezbollah freedom fighters did not cross the Blue Line, while there are talks about a violation of UN Resolution 1701, which prohibits any military presence other than the Lebanese Army between the Litani River and the Blue Line.
Israeli media quoted an Israeli security official as saying he was not surprised to see Lebanese freedom fighters at the Lebanese border as was the situation before the 2006 war.
Israeli security also said Hezbollah fighters have been for months seeking to provoke the Israeli forces and have them called up to the borders.
This comes less than a week after Hezbollah showed a video of the chief of staff of the Israeli army and the commander of the Northern Front, with Israeli media saying the Lebanese Resistance filming the Israeli Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi was "concerning".
The camera lens might have as well been a sniper weapon, Israeli media pointed out.
"Today, Hezbollah has drawn another card, in the game that has been being played in recent weeks on the northern border and has published a video showing the chief of staff of the Israeli army and the commander of the northern region," Channel 12's correspondent in the north, Guy Faron said.
He added that this is proof of a well-known fact: that is the geographical upper hand of Hezbollah in the North. In the northern region, Hezbollah has surveillance over and the capacity to make a move against the settlers, and not only the Chief of Staff who had arrived on a tour of the fence.
This comes as Lebanon is reclaiming its rights when it comes to its southern border. Lebanon on Thursday started bulldozing lands adjacent to what is known as the withdrawal line, or the Blue Line, in the Kfar Chouba Heights, the area bordering occupied Palestine.
The bulldozing operations are a precedent for Lebanon, since the liberation of the South and the Western Bekaa from the Israeli occupation, an Al Mayadeen correspondent said, adding that the bulldozing was taking place near the barricades set up by the Israeli occupation a few days ago.
The Israeli occupation forces, in response to the Lebanese bulldozing operations, fired smoke bombs toward the Lebanese territories off the occupied Kfar Shuba heights, with an Israeli tank moving from the Ruwaisat Al-Alam site as the bulldozing operations were taking place, an Al Mayadeen correspondent reported.
The occupation also started mobilizing its forces meters away from the bulldozing works alongside the border after it had erected barricades in the area on Tuesday evening, beyond the withdrawal line, in clear violation of UN resolutions regarding the respect of Lebanon's sovereignty.
