Israel Matzav

An armory in every village

Following up on Tuesday night's firing of a Katyusha rocket into Israel, a UNIFIL spokesman told the Jerusalem Post that UNIFIL has not encountered any efforts by Hezbullah to re-arm. But the IDF says that's because UNIFIL does not go into the Lebanese villages, and that Hezbullah in fact maintains an armory in every village.

Speaking by phone from southern Lebanon, UNIFIL's Deputy Spokesman, Andreas Tenenti, told the Post that the peacekeepers have not encountered any attempts by Hizbullah to rearm itself in violation of Resolution 1701.

"From what we've seen during our patrols, we have not witnessed any rearmament," Tenenti said. "We have a large presence in the south of the country, [but] we are not in every place at every time," he added.

Lebanese army forces discovered on Wednesday morning four rockets mounted on launch pads in the Lebanese village of Houlo - from where a Katyusha rocket was fired at the Upper Galilee region of northern Israel on Tuesday evening.

The rockets, which were reportedly ready for launch, were neutralized by Lebanese troops.

...

The calm is, however, deceptive, Israel believes. Recent explosions of weapons caches in Lebanese villages offered more than enough proof of Hizbullah's rearmament efforts, the army source said.

"There are facts on the ground which speak for themselves," he added. Earlier this month, the IDF released surveillance video taken from a drone of a building in the town of Tirplesi following an enormous explosion of what the army says was an illegal Hizbullah arms cache.

Various long objects covered by a fabric can be seen being removed from the building, loaded onto a truck, and driven away. The objects were medium-range rockets that can strike deep into northern Israel, security sources said.

"What can be more clear than that?" the source asked.

The problem is that UNIFIL's mandate under UN Security Council Resolution 1701 does not allow them to enter Lebanese villages unless the Lebanese Armed Forces ask them to enter. The Lebanese Armed Forces are dominated by Hezbullah sympathizers and of course, never ask UNIFIL to enter the villages.

What could go wrong?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:09 AM