ISRAEL: Israeli farmers are warned away from tense border area following Hezbollah's threat to respond to an air strike earlier this week

Record ID: 398051

  • Title: ISRAEL: Israeli farmers are warned away from tense border area following Hezbollah's threat to respond to an air strike earlier this week
  • Date: 27th February 2014
  • Summary: METULLA, ISRAEL (FEBRUARY 27, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI MILITARY VEHICLES AND TROOPS NEAR BORDER WITH LEBANON ISRAELI MILITARY JEEP DRIVING AWAY VARIOUS OF UNITED NATIONS VEHICLE ON LEBANESE SIDE OF BORDER ROADWAY GATE AND SIGN READING (Hebrew): 'STOP BORDER AHEAD' AND SIGN READING (Hebrew, English and Arabic): 'NO ENTRY CLOSED MILITARY AREA' (SOUNDBITE) (Hebre
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6TZLPAQLX9O3FDHK6J1Q1GUAT
  • Story Text: Farmers in Israel's tense northern region near Lebanon said the military had ordered them away from fields abutting the border on Thursday (February 27), a day after the Lebanese Hezbollah militia threatened to respond to an Israeli air strike that hit one of its bases on the border with Syria earlier in the week.
    In a statement, Hezbollah said it would 'choose the time and place and the proper way to respond.' Farmers in Metulla, a small Israeli community that abuts the Lebanese border said Israel's military had warned them to keep out of their fields due to intelligence warnings.

    "Yesterday we received notice from the army not to approach our orchards along the border area, and not to work them," said Israeli farmer Yossi Levit. "Our army, at the moment, because of all sorts of notices, won't allow us to get any closer, intelligence notices, and we unfortunately have to follow those," he said.
    The strike, which Israel has not confirmed, hit the Lebanese-Syrian border near the Bekaa Valley village of Janta, Hezbollah said. It denied reports that the strike targeted artillery or rocket bases and said there were no casualties.
    Lebanese security sources have said they believed that any attack took place on Syrian soil, but Hezbollah's reference to Lebanese sovereignty suggested it took place on the Lebanese side of the ill-defined frontier.
    Israeli planes have struck areas on the Syrian side of the border several times in the last two years but, if confirmed, an air strike on Lebanese soil would be the first since the Syrian revolt began in 2011.
    The eastern Lebanon-Syrian border area is frequently used by smugglers and Lebanese security sources say the target of Israeli strikes in Syria may have been trucks of weapons destined for Hezbollah.
    Israel has voiced alarm that amid the chaos of Syria's civil war, weapons could be transferred to Hezbollah, which is supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fight an insurgency but has traditionally fought Israel.
    Israel's military chief Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz reiterated those fears on Sunday, a day before the strike, when he accused Iran, Assad's ally and Hezbollah's patron, of moving weapons to the militant group.
    Israel's Channel 10 television on Tuesday broadcast what it said were satellite images of the locations struck, which appeared to show missile silos being readied for weapons.
    The Lebanese army reported that four Israeli planes had flown across north Lebanon on Monday night towards the Bekaa Valley before heading southwest towards the Mediterranean near Lebanon's southern border with Israel. Israeli jets regularly fly through Lebanese airspace without permission.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not claim or deny the strike but said on Tuesday Israel would do everything required to safeguard the security of the citizens of Israel.
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