The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization has built more than 20 observation and guard posts along the Israel-Lebanon border over the past year.
חומה ומגדל, גרסת חיזבאללה: בשנה האחרונה הציבו בארגון מעל 20 מגדלי תצפית במקביל לחומת הגבול החדשה שצה"ל מציב בגבול לבנון. אתמול השלימו פעילי הארגון מגדל שכזה מול המושב שתולה. פרטים נוספים ב:@ynetalerts @YediotAhronot pic.twitter.com/NzfaIr4MFq
— יאיר קראוס (@yair_kraus) January 23, 2023
According to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Second Lebanon War between the IDF and Hezbollah, the terrorist group is forbidden from operating near the frontier.
Hezbollah launched the project in parallel to Israel’s construction of a fortified perimeter fence along the 140-kilometer shared border, Ynet reported on Monday.
Israeli media reported in June that Hezbollah had built 15 outposts on the Israeli border, with each such site containing an outlook position or tower, two to three housing units and storage facilities.
“The problem is that as soon as Hezbollah builds a post like this, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL [the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon] no longer arrive [in the area],” the reports quoted a senior Israel Defense Forces Northern Command source as saying at the time.
The same month, the IDF said that the Lebanese terrorist group had established an intelligence-gathering outpost on the Israeli border disguised as an environmental protection facility.
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan demanded in July that the U.N. take action against Hezbollah over military posts the group had recently erected along the border.
The flag of a supposed Lebanese civil organization, “Green Without Borders,” flies over the posts, but the IDF has exposed this as a fictitious group founded by Hezbollah back in 2018.
In a letter to the Security Council and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, Erdan warned that the “new reality on the Israel-Lebanon border points to a clear escalation that could ignite the entire region” and argued that the true objective of the posts is intelligence gathering.
“Under the guise of the so-called ‘Green without Borders’ environmental organization, Hezbollah is expanding its terror footprints on a daily basis, just mere meters from Israel’s northern border, and from within UNIFIL’s area of operations,” he said.
“The use of this organization as a front for Hezbollah’s malign activities has been recognized by the U.N. and described in several periodic reports of the secretary-general. As has been flagged by several U.N. reports and noted in relevant U.N. resolutions, this perverse tactic, of terror organizations hiding behind non-profits and NGOs, is a growing phenomenon that is not only employed by Hezbollah but by many other terror groups across the globe as well,” stated the letter.
“These are military outposts for all intents and purposes, established and maintained by Hezbollah terrorists and not innocent Lebanese environmentalists. This is part of the broader picture of Hezbollah’s growing presence in southern Lebanon and yet another example of its ongoing hostile activity in the area,” the letter continues.
“Israel continues to stress that the responsibility for Hezbollah’s expansion lies squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese authorities, and expects the Lebanese government to take immediate action to curb Hezbollah’s advancements and military buildup,” wrote Erdan.
