On the Brink of Another War?
Israel To Hold Lebanon’s Government “Responsible”
if Hezbollah Retaliates over Air Strikes
Israel has warned the Lebanese government that it would be held
responsible for any retaliation by Hezbollah after this past Monday’s
airstrike by the Israeli Air Force that struck areas held by Hezbollah
near the Lebanese-Syria border. The Washington Post reported that “Hezbollah said it would ” choose the right time and place and the proper way to respond.” Israel is prepared to strike targets in Lebanon associated with Hezbollah strongholds. “An unspecified number of Hezbollah militants were killed in the airstrike, according to pan-Arab news channel Al Arabiya” the Jerusalem Post said in their report which also stated Israel’s position on the matter:
Israel sent a warning to the Lebanese
government in Beirut by way of UNIFIL that it would be held responsible
for any attacks by Hezbollah that are launched from Lebanese soil,
reported al-Akhbar News Agency on Friday
The Israeli Air Force recently launched strikes that hit Hezbollah
targets on the border between Syria and Lebanon claiming that they were
preventing missiles from reaching Hezbollah coming from Syria. The
Washington Post quoted Maj. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven on Monday’s actions
undertaken by the Israeli government as he said “Israel has to act
in order to prevent the transfer of game-changing weapons,” said retired
Maj. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven, speaking from northern Israel. “Although I
can’t confirm what happened . . . it is very clear that we are trying to
prevent this.”
The Washington Post also quoted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comment on the military strike when he said “We will do all that is necessary to defend our citizens.” Hezbollah disagreed with the Lebanese media claiming that the strike targeted “a missile storage center and killed at least four Hezbollah fighters” Hezbollah said that the site “was only partially damaged” according to the report which also confirmed that a Lebanese intelligence official said that “the strike did target a shipment of missiles that had crossed the border from Syria.”
Tensions are rising on the border between Israel and Lebanon since
the Syrian civil war began in 2011. Israel has been in preparation to
counter Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinians in the West Bank and
Gaza since both groups are on their borders. “It is self-evident that we see Lebanon as responsible for any attack on Israel from the territory of Lebanon,” Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel radio “It
is the duty of the Lebanese government to prevent any terrorist attack –
whether a terrorist or missile attack, or any other kind – on the State
of Israel,” the Jerusalem Post stated. Israel violated another UN resolution as “Foreign
Minister Gebran Bassil condemned the Israeli strikes saying that Israel
was in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the
2006 Second Lebanon War, according to the Lebanese news outlet” the report said. The Brookings Institute issued a Report in 2011 called ‘The Next War: How another Conflict between Hizballah and Israel Could Look and How