The Lebanon Border Skirmish: What Happened, and What's Really Happening
At about noontime yesterday, snipers from the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) opened fire on Israeli soldiers performing routine maintenance work on trees and hedges in the gap between Israel's border fence and the internationally recognized “Blue Line” (the border between Israel and Lebanon). The Israelis were operating inside sovereign Israeli territory, in an enclave just west of Kibbutz Misgav Am.
Lebanese snipers shot Lt.-Col. (res.) Dov Harari (45) in the head and reserve Capt.(res.) Ezra Lakia (30), a platoon commander from Harari's battalion, in the chest. Harari was killed; Lakia was evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa in critical condition.
The Israelis responded to the attack with artillery and tank fire, killing three Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist. The clash escalated, with the Lebanese shooting a rocket-propelled grenade at an Israeli tank (it missed) and the Israelis continuing to strike the LAF outposts with artillery fire. Israel eventually brought in attack helicopters, which struck and heavily damaged an LAF command center in Taiba, a town nearby. The forceful response reflected Israel's belief that this was a "planned ambush" by the LAF, to quote Major General Gadi Eisenkot.
The Lebanese claim that the Israelis committed the initial aggression by entering Lebanese territory. This claim is patently false, as can be seen by the map above (source: the IDF website; the red splotch shows where the incident took place). The Lebanese claim further that the Israelis had not notified them in advance of their intention to prune trees on the border. This too is a lie: UNIFIL confirmed this morning that it received prior notification from the Israelis, and that it passed that notification on to the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese are defending their assault on the grounds that the Israeli "aggression" -- pruning trees -- was a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 War in Lebanon. This is rather a striking argument, since 1701 also obliged Hezbollah to disarm. Hezbollah has, in fact, spent the intervening four years actively re-arming itself. According to the Pentagon, Hezbollah has been receiving up to $200 million a year from Iran for rearming purposes as well as direct weapons shipments. Last November, Israel interdicted a merchant vessel from Iran containing massive stocks of weapons for Hezbollah, including rockets, missiles, grenades, and anti-tank shells.
Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu stated yesterday that he holds the Lebanese government directly responsible for this provocation, which Israel views as a blatant violation of 1701. "Israel responded, and will respond aggressively in the future, to all efforts to disturb the quiet on the northern border and harm the citizens of the North and the soldiers protecting them," he said. The security cabinet will convene today to discuss this incident as well as the rocket attack on Eilat and Aqaba that occurred two days ago.
So what's really going on here? Here's the prevailing theory. Tensions have been rising in Lebanon of late because members of Hezbollah, including a senior figure, are about to be indicted by a UN tribunal for the murder in 2005 of Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. Outrage over the assassination, which many Lebanese believe to have been ordered by Syria, led to the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon after 29 years of occupation. If Hezbollah, which is sponsored by Syria as well as Iran, is directly implicated in the assassination, it could spark serious tensions inside Lebanon. It's therefore in Hezbollah's interest, now more than ever, to set off a new conflict with Israel as a diversionary tactic.
Which was very bad news for Dov Harari and Ezra Lakia. Possibly for the whole region, too, although it's too soon to tell. We'll wait and see.
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