By Olivier Guitta*

Indeed Hezbollah flags were deployed on February 2 on the Lebanese-Israeli border. According to the site Elaph.com, “militants of Hezbollah deployed this Friday about thirty flags of their party all along the Lebanese-Israeli border. Hoisted on some six meter high poles, the flags are dispersed from Nakoura, on the Mediterranean, to Shebaa in the Eastern sector of south Lebanon,” within a few meters of the blue line marking the border drawn by UNIFIL. This latest action of Hezbollah, realized under the nose of the U.N. peace-keeping forces, seems to be a calculated provocation. Indeed, since the end of hostilities last on August 14, Hezbollah does not have any more official presence in the area ranging between the border and the Litani river, about 25 miles to the north.

This just confirms the inefficiency of the UNIFIL and its will of “laissez faire” attitude. Since Hezbollah has been rebuilding its stock of rockets to level higher than before the July war, it’s just a matter of time for a resuming of the conflict.

It will suffice for Hezbollah to target UNIFIL soldiers to see this contingent withdraw from the area and leave once again South Lebanon under the full control of Hezbollah.

This latest Hezbollah provocation could be explained by two reasons:

1- try to trigger even a limited war with Israel in order to gain back support in the Shia community which has been dwindling recently. For more on this please read this. In the past week Nasrallah and his followers have been back focusing on their motto: “Death to Israel, death to America.”

2- also this occurred the next day of Prime Minister Olmert’s testimony on the July war where he expressed his satisfaction over UNIFIL’s presence at the border and Hezbollah’s alleged withdrawal.

*Counterterrorism Blog
February 4, 2007
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/02/
hezbollah_provoking_israel_rig.php
Cross-posted with permission