Israel’s decision to stay at five surveillance posts inside southern Lebanon after the February 18 deadline has caused no small measure of consternation for the Lebanese. Israel maintains the US green lit their stay, and now it appears that wasn’t the end of the territorial moves into Lebanon after the “withdrawal.”
Israel is now imposing two new “demilitarized” zones inside Lebanese territory across the border from the northern Israeli town of Metula. This includes areas close to the Lebanese border town of Kfar Kela.
There have been multiple incidents in recent weeks where Israeli forces opened fire across the border at civilians trying to return to their homes in Kfar Kela. It now appears that it’s official policy that any attempt to return to those homes will be met with Israeli gunfire.
The terming of these areas as “demilitarized” appears to fly in the face of the traditional definition of the concept, as generally unarmed civilian residents aren’t barred from demilitarized zones, nor are they attacked militarily for entering.
Adding to the tensions in southern Lebanon, Israeli drones attacked and killed a Hezbollah member in the town of Recknanay, in Tyre District. The man was identified as Khodr Said Hashem, who Israel described as a “naval commander.”
While Hezbollah confirmed Hashem as a commander, there are potential problems with this narrative, not the least of which is that Hezbollah effectively has no navy in the first place. Moreover, Recknanay, the site of the drone strike, is more than 10 km from the sea.
That’s not stopping the Israeli narrative though, as they’re insisting that Hashem was “responsible for the naval forces in the terror group’s elite Radwan Force.” and claimed he was planning maritime attacks on Israel and Israeli civilians during the ceasefire.
How he planned to do that without a navy is unclear, and it must be noted that Hezbollah has not launched any strikes on Israeli territory throughout the ceasefire, which began on November 26. Israel, however, presented Hashem’s very presence in Recknanay as “a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” also ignoring the hundreds if not thousands of aggressive violations of the ceasefire by Israel since it went into effect.
