Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took foreign diplomats to the border with Lebanon on Thursday, ramping up anti-Hezbollah rhetoric amid a controversial military operation to destroy alleged attack tunnels.
Israel announced on Tuesday that it had discovered alleged Hezbollah tunnels infiltrating its territory from Lebanon and launched an operation to destroy them, but Lebanon has disputed claims amid accusations Netanyahu is trying to distract from his legal problems.
Northern Shield: Israel launches op to cut off Hezbollah tunnels https://t.co/sTjEHZBkvO pic.twitter.com/y022KRdU7L
— RT (@RT_com) December 6, 2018
On Wednesday, Netanyahu told UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that “he expects the UN to strongly condemn the violation of Israel’s sovereignty”, according to his office’s Twitter account.
He said in a Hebrew-language statement on Thursday:
“I told the ambassadors that they should condemn this aggression by Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, unequivocally, and of course also to intensify the sanctions against these elements.”
Netanyahu said Thursday that Hezbollah, like Hamas in the Gaza Strip, was acting on behalf of its patron Iran.
Breaking: Israeli Forces announce that they have launched an operation called ‘Northern Shield’ to destroy Hezbollah tunnels crossing the border from Lebanon into Israel. pic.twitter.com/xkIt4nA7jZ
— PM Breaking News (@PMBreakingNews) December 4, 2018
He said:
“Anyone who attacks us will have bloodshed on their own heads. Hezbollah knows that and Hamas knows it too.”
The military said it had located one such tunnel dug from a home in the Kfar Kila area of south Lebanon that crossed into Israeli territory and was working to “neutralize” it.
BREAKING: Bahraini foreign minister backs Israel's operation to get rid of Hezbollah's terror tunnels https://t.co/Mwu78ujvCl
— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) December 6, 2018
Lebanon’s parliament speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday that Israel had provided no evidence of tunnels allegedly built by Hezbollah to launch cross-border attacks.
There has been no comment from Hezbollah.
Amid the much-publicized tunnel operations, Netanyahu has been condemned by opposition politicians and commentators for seeking to distract from mounting personal legal woes and a fragile political coalition.
Israel said it had begun a military operation to expose and thwart offensive tunnels it said Hezbollah had been building across the Lebanese border https://t.co/FXIKdbg8PB
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 4, 2018
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Wednesday accused Netanyahu of “blowing the [tunnel] incident out of proportion”.
Livni alleged that part of Netanyahu’s thinking was to deflect criticism from residents of southern Israel who say he has failed to quash the threat of cross-border rocket fire from militants in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of over-dramatising the army's discovery of Hezbollah tunnels infiltrating its territory from Lebanon for political gain https://t.co/cMHUOsEIHr
— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 6, 2018
The Israeli leader is seeking to hold his governing coalition together after last month’s resignation of defense minister Avigdor Lieberman over a controversial Gaza ceasefire, which left him clinging to a one-seat majority in parliament.
#Police Recommend Bribery Charges against #Israeli PM https://t.co/R3g8iST7lU via @PalestineChron pic.twitter.com/z8skvkLqzj
— Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 4, 2018
The prime minister took over the defense portfolio after Lieberman’s resignation.
He has also faced mounting legal woes, with police on Sunday recommending that he and his wife Sara be indicted for bribery, the third such decision against the premier in recent months.
(Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, PC, Social Media)
