Israel threatens Hezbollah with military action if it does not dismantle a camp set up on the border

July 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Israeli authorities have sent a message to the Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hezbollah warning that there could be an armed confrontation if the camp installed in April on the Shebaa farms on the border between the two countries is not removed.

Hezbollah set up a camp in the demilitarized zone on the border with Israel in April made up of several tents. The camp is located in the area under the control of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), specifically to the north of the fence erected by Israel, but on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, which functions as the line of contact for the halt the fire.

Israel has thus threatened a military intervention in the area “even if it is at the cost of days of fighting”, as reported by the Israeli television Channel 12.

This same Sunday it was the Israeli Energy Minister, Israel Katz, who declared on Israeli radio that they are trying to make diplomacy bear fruit, but he assured that “we are going to get rid of this breach one way or another”. “Israel is not interested in war. The damage it would cause to it and to Lebanon would be incomparable to that of the Second Lebanon War,” he has argued.

“The easiest thing is to press the button of the war. It does not interest us, but we are not going to allow our red lines to be crossed and (Hasan) Nasrallah (leader of Hezbollah) should know that,” he added.

The camp is located on what is known as Shebaa farms, a strip of land claimed by both Lebanon and Syria as their own, but under Israeli military control since 1967.

The UN has had a presence on the border between Lebanon and Israel since 1978, but UNIFIL with its current format dates from 2006. It currently has some 10,000 troops and Spain, with more than 600 soldiers, is one of the countries that contributes the most personnel, behind only Indonesia, Italy and Nepal.