Hezbollah: LAF readied after incursion

The Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah has said that an Israeli border incursion causes the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to be put on high alert.

An Israeli military bulldozer violated the Lebanese territory, occasioning the state of combat readiness, the group said in a broadcast on the al-Manar channel, the United Press International (UPI) reported on Tuesday.

It, however, said that the bulldozer had been stopped by the forces of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is on a mandate to patrol the south of Lebanon.

Israel is obliged by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended 2006 Israeli offensives on Lebanon, to stay out of the country’s soil. About 1200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, were killed during the war, which was fought off by Hezbollah.

Early last month and in a move that notably aggravated the tense regional situation, Israeli troops entered Lebanese soil, triggering an exchange of fire with the Lebanese Army. Three Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist from the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper and one senior Israeli Army officer were killed in the crossfire, which also resulted in injuries on both sides.

Tel Aviv as well orders violations of the Lebanese airspace on an almost daily basis under a pretext of surveillance.

The provocations follow April claims by Israel and the United States that Syria supplies Hezbollah with Russian-made Scud missiles.

Damascus, Beirut and the Hezbollah resistance movement itself have categorically rejected the claim.