Beirut, August 11 (RHC)-- Three Israeli battle tanks have encroached upon a technical fence that separates Lebanon from the occupied territories amid tensions between the Tel Aviv regime and Hezbollah resistance movement, whose member was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Syria last month.
Two tanks crossed the so-called Blue Line – the UN-recognized boundary between the Israeli-occupied territories and Lebanon – near Meiss Ej Jabal village in the Marjeyoun district on Tuesday, and were deployed in an area of the southern Lebanese neighborhood of Kroum al-Sharqi, the Arabic-language An-Nahar daily newspaper reported.
The report added that the third tank crossed the border and was positioned on a road just opposite the area. A phosphorous bomb was later fired by one of the tanks. No injuries were reported.
Tensions have been running high between Israel and Hezbollah since July 20, when Tel Aviv killed Hezbollah member Ali Kamel Mohsen in an airstrike on Syria. The Israeli military has placed its forces near the Lebanese and Syrian borders on high alert after Hezbollah promised retaliation.
On Monday, Israeli deputy prime Minister and minister of military affairs, Benny Gantz, asserted that the regime is ready for a war with Lebanon. He also warned that Israel’s next war against Hezbollah would be more difficult to fight given the tactics that the Lebanese resistance movement would employ in such a military confrontation.
Last week, a leading U.S. news website said the recent developments have “shed light on Israel’s impossible situation” along the Lebanese border.
According to Business Insider, Hezbollah has established a high level of deterrence in southern Lebanon, where as many as "150,000 rockets and missiles" are pointed at Israel.
The movement can pour dozens if not hundreds of rockets into Israel throughout the northern third of the occupied territories “almost unimpeded,” said Business Insider.
Lebanese journalist Ibrahim al-Amin wrote in Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Akhbar newspaper last Thursday that Hezbollah still plans to carry out a retaliatory attack on Israel despite the massive explosion in Beirut’s port, which killed at least 160 people and left over 6,000 more injured.
“Those who are betting that the port explosion will lead Hezbollah to cancel its decision to respond to the crime in Syria are once again thinking in the wrong manner,” al-Amin wrote.
