Israel says Hezbollah set up Lebanon post under NGO guise

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army Monday accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of setting up a new observation point in south Lebanon near the border under the guise of an environmental NGO.
A senior military officer charged that the position, near the Shiite village of Aadaysit and the Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am, was a violation of UN Resolution 1701 prohibiting Hezbollah military activity in the area.
The observation post joins five other exposed last year by Israel, the officer said, all allegedly under the cover of “Green Without Borders.”
“This NGO isn’t concerned with planting trees, it’s a front” for Hezbollah to monitor the Israeli army and civilians nearby, the officer told reporters in a briefing.
Israel has relayed its concerns to UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon, and asked them to visit the positions, but according to the officer, “they haven’t done so.”
The position contains “military equipment and infrastructure, binoculars, high end cameras,” the officer said. “This is a breach of 1701.”
A month-long war in 2006 between Israel and the Shite movement killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Resolution 1701 was adopted to end the war, calling for full respect of the “Blue Line,” the UN-demarcated frontier between Lebanon and the Jewish state.
Israel has vowed to prevent what it says are efforts by its archfoe Iran to transfer advanced arms to Hezbollah in Lebanon.