Al-Manar TV and Al Noor Radio correspondent Ali Shoeib reported on Tuesday that a small Israeli drone came out of Metula and dumped two balloons with a foul-smelling substance at a group of young Lebanese at the Israel-Lebanon border.
The event took place near the village of Ghajar, an Alawite-Arab community situated at a triangle where the borders of three countries meet: Lebanon, Syria, and Israel.
On Friday night, Kan11 News featured a report about “The pastoral village that became the focus of tensions with Hezbollah.”
On November 12, 2017, a Green Park was inaugurated in the center of the village, funded by the Israel Lottery. The park includes a fountain, lawns, a garden, and play facilities for children.
Until 2022, a barrier was placed at the entrance to the village, and entry was only allowed to residents and IDF soldiers. In September 2022, after the Ghajar council erected a fence blocking the passage to the village from Lebanon, the barriers at the entrance to the village and the restrictions on entering it from Israel were removed, and the IDF removed its barrier.
The area of the village is still defined as a “military area closed to entry” inside the Israeli side of the blue-line border with Lebanon, but there is no enforcement of the ban on entry. As described in the Kan11 report above, the village has developed a thriving tourism industry that caters to Israeli Jews and Arabs. They sell the good air, the fabulous view, and great traditional cuisine.
As of 2023, northern Ghajar is under Israeli control, and Lebanon and Hezbollah continue to demand Israel’s withdrawal from the northern part of the village, as well as from the Kfarchouba hills and the Shebaa Farms. To these claims, Hezbollah has added a demand to return seven villages to Lebanese sovereignty.
The recent tensions on Har Dov, where Hezbollah pitched two tents (now only one) on the Israeli side of the border fence, are related to Tuesday’s event.
مسيّرة “إسرائيلية” صغيرة خرجت من مستعمرة “المطلة” وألقت بالونين على عدد من الشبان أثناء سهرهم عند مثلث الحمامص – الوزاني – سهل الخيام و وتحمل هذه البالونات مواد ذات رائحة كريهة جداً .
اكتر شي فيهن يعملوه عنا !!#بالونات !!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/bVoQVtJxnA
— علي شعيب || Ali Shoeib ?? (@alishoeib1970) July 18, 2023
