Israel Matzav

Foreign ministry pressing IDF to abandon Lebanon overflights

This is nothing short of amazing.

Israel's Foreign ministry (which has a bureaucracy full of moonbats thanks to being under the control of Shimon Peres and Shlomo Ben Ami for most of the last fifteen years) is now pressing the IDF and the Defense Ministry to stop the overflights of Lebanon that the IDF is using to monitor the arrival of weapons shipments to Hezbullah from Syria and Iran. It goes without saying that this is the result of the alleged incident in which IDF jets were 'seconds away' from being shot at by French UNIFIL troops. You all know that I don't believe there are any UNIFIL troops left in southern Lebanon anyway. But the French are playing this for all it's worth:

Daniel Sheck, Israel’s envoy to France was summoned by the French Foreign Ministry earlier this month to discuss the incident that sparked the furor which prompted the move.

...

The incident brought renewed calls from the United Nations and Lebanon for Israel to stop the surveillance flights, which they say violate the U.N.-brokered ceasefire agreement. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 calls for Israel to withdraw IDF troops from Lebanon.

Resolution 1701 also calls for a ban on sale or supply of arms to entities or individuals in Lebanon, including Hizbullah, as well as the disarming of "all armed groups in the country." UNIFIL has categorically refused to disarm Hizbullah, and so has the Lebanese government. [UNIFIL is under no obligation to disarm Hezbullah unless the Lebanese government asks them to do so. So much for the lousy job the foreign ministry did negotiating UN Security Council Resolution 1701. CiJ]

The resolution did not specifically mandate the release of the two IDF reservists kidnapped on July 12 by Hizbullah terrorists.

Kobi Marom, a former IDF commander in eastern Lebanon, told Arutz-7 on Tuesday that Israel has an obligation to continue the flights so long as Hizbullah remains armed. The intelligence-gathering flyovers are being used to update years-old information about Hizbullah movements and its efforts to re-arm and rebuild its infrastructure.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz previously has stated that Israel would continue the flights because of continuing efforts by Hizbullah terrorists to smuggle weapons. The terror organization enjoys generous financial and other support from Syria and Iran. Both countries are actively helping Hizbullah to replenish its arsenal.

Meanwhile, the IDF reports this evening that Hezbullah terrorists have taken up positions along Israel's northern border where they are gathering intelligence on IDF troop placements.

Armed Hizbullah men, the officer said, were no longer along the border like it was before the war, when it maintained military outposts right next to Israel.

But he said, the Hizbullah operatives lived in villages along the border and were spotted conducting surveillance on Israel.

"They are there but they cannot operate freely like they used to," the officer said. "There is UNIFIL and the LAF there and this does complicate things for them."

UNIFIL rejected IDF allegations that Hizbullah guerrillas had returned to the border. The UN force's chief liaison officer, Col. Alexan Lalan, told the Post Tuesday that the IDF's actions, in particular the daily IAF flyovers, were strengthening Hizbullah and creating new militants for the Shi'ite group.

"The flyovers harm the credibility of UNIFIL, the credibility of the LAF and the credibility of the state of Lebanon," Lalan said in a phone interview from his office in the southern Lebanese town of Naqoura.

"Every flyover creates new Hizbullah militants and new sympathy for Hizbullah since it shows and demonstrates that UNIFIL and the LAF are not powerful and able to stop them," Lalan said.

What an amazing claim! You'd think the 'flyovers' were terror attacks!

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:28 AM