Hassan Nasrallah, General Secretary of the terror group Hezbollah on Sunday denounced Israeli plans to construct a cement wall spanning the entire length of the Lebanese border. The wall is being erected in segments by the IDF, in response to specific local needs, a process which also involves a dialogue with communities whose economy depends on tourism and therefore would like to minimize the fortress-like effect of the unsightly wall.
“After liberating the Lebanese occupied territories from the Zionist enemy in 2000, the UN demarcation of the national border with the Palestinian territories left 13 controversial positions, and the Lebanese government informed UNIFIL (the UN Interim Force in Lebanon) about its rejection of any Israeli measure in this regard,” Nasrallah said in a statement to Hezbollah’s news outlet al-Manar.
“The Islamic Resistance backs the Lebanese government and army, and the Zionists must take Lebanon’s warning seriously,” Nasrallah continued.
Lebanese president Michel Aoun on Friday told UNIFIL commander Major General Michael Beary that the Israeli border wall construction “isn’t compatible with the efforts that UNIFIL is exerting in cooperation with the Lebanese army to preserve security and stability along the southern border.”
Both Aoun and Nasrallah are upset over the fact that the Israeli wall is being constructed along the Blue Line – the UN-mandated border demarcation that was installed in the year 2000, establishing how far back Israeli forces had to move in vacating areas of south Lebanon where they had been since the 1982.
But Aoun told Beary on Friday that “Lebanon doesn’t consider the Blue Line to be the final border. It is a temporary measure that was used following [Lebanon’s] liberation in 2000 and Israel’s withdrawal.”
The UNIFIL chief had told the Lebanese that Israel is suspending the wall construction in anticipation of new tripartite talks in February, which the IDF denied, saying the wall construction is proceeding as scheduled.