IDF uncovers Hezbollah post one km from border, defying U.N. resolution

Army once again accuses group of violating UNSC Resolution 1701.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: OCTOBER 22, 2018 22:29
IDF uncovers Hezbollah post one km from border, defying UN resolution, October 22, 2018 (IDF Spokesperson)
The IDF has accused Hezbollah of once again violating United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 after uncovering an observation post used by the Lebanese Shi’ite terrorist group along Israel’s northern border.
The group attempted to conceal the post – located in the al-Adisa village opposite Kibbutz Misgav Am, about one kilometer from the border – under the guise of the fictitious environmental NGO “Green Without Borders.”
The IDF says it was the sixth such post discovered in the past couple of years. Similar to those uncovered last year, this one also acted as a forward observation post to gather intelligence on IDF troops.
“Hezbollah acts as if the IDF is not aware of its activities,” read a statement by the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, adding: “The IDF regularly monitors the activities of Hezbollah and, as it has shown recently, is aware of this and of other activities.”
The IDF has accused Hezbollah numerous times of violating the UN resolution, which set the terms to end the 34-day Second Lebanon War fought between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 and which barred any military presence by Hezbollah south of Lebanon’s Litani River.
“There are no birds or forests there,” a senior official in the Northern Command was quoted as saying by Israeli media. “Hezbollah is building military infrastructure along the border with armed men moving there when they are watching the Israeli border. This is military infrastructure in civilian guise.”
“From inside Israel we can see observation posts and sensor equipment,” he continued. “Even if the outpost is unarmed, we know that its goals are not innocent. The objective is to gather intelligence on the border.”
According to the military, while it has voiced its concerns to the United Nations about the area, the terrorist group has prevented members of the UN and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) from investigating the area, claiming that it is private land.
“This is a blatant, daily violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which prohibits any armed military presence south of the Litani River except for the Lebanese army and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon,” the army said.
Last year, Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon condemned Hezbollah’s disguised activity in a letter to the president of the UN Security Council, presenting photos of the five other positions and calling on the council to “demand that the government of Lebanon dismantle these observation posts immediately, and prevent any future activity of Hezbollah and its affiliates in southern Lebanon, particularly near the Blue Line” between Lebanon and Israel.
While Israel’s accusations were denied by the UN, the IDF has stressed that the group continues to use the NGO as a front for intelligence gathering to harm Israel and that it “is able to maintain the secrecy of its intentions while avoiding UNIFIL criticism by warnings from the Lebanese army.”
In February, The Jerusalem Post reported that UNIFIL soldiers tasked with keeping the peace accused Hezbollah and the Lebanese army of hampering their work, which included spying on the agency.
According to a UNIFIL incident report seen by the Post, troops were denied access to a public location in a southern Lebanese village by three men dressed in military garb who had left a mosque bearing a Green Without Borders flag.
When the patrol reached the area, the men signaled to them to stop, the report read. “The patrol leader tried to negotiate a bypassing route in various ways but got only the same firm and polite message to leave the area,” according to the report.
The report stated that it was assessed that the three men were working for Green Without Borders “as their clothing style and appearance is similar to what has been reported in some of the locations where the GWB are active.”