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With Hezbollah in mind, Israel builds a new wall
ROSH HANIQRA, Israel, Sept 6, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – High in the hills above the
Mediterranean, Israeli troops worked while soldiers from a country still
technically at war with them peered down from only metres above.
The odd spectacle played out this week as Israel continued work on a new
concrete wall along its northern border with Lebanon. A few Lebanese soldiers
watched from a tower just on the other side.
Israel has spent years building barriers to keep out Palestinians from the
occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as African migrants crossing from
Egypt.
Earlier this year, new construction began along the Lebanese border, where
Israel is building a wall equipped with cameras in the hope of thwarting any
attempt by its enemy Hezbollah to infiltrate and attack.
It follows up on earlier construction in 2012 of a wall around the Israeli
town of Metula next to the Lebanese border.
Israel says all portions of the wall will be on its side of the so-called
blue line — the UN-established ceasefire line put in place after its
withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
But Lebanon says some sections will cut into its territory and earlier this
year pledged a diplomatic push to prevent construction.
Lebanon’s plans to explore for oil and gas offshore in waters eyed by both
sides have added to the controversy.
Israeli military officials told journalists during a tour of the work near
the Mediterranean coast on Wednesday that the wall, replacing a fence, was
being built for defensive purposes.
Israel fought a war with Lebanon-based Shiite militant group Hezbollah in
2006. The border area has remained relatively quiet since.
“This obstacle basically relates to the intentions, the spoken intentions,
the threats made public by Hezbollah since 2011, to infiltrate into Israel
and to attack Israeli communities south of the blue line,” said Major Tomer
Gilad.
“We’re taking these threats seriously.”
– Nine metres high –
Israel has so far built 11 kilometres (seven miles) of the wall and a
budget is in place for two more.
The military hopes to eventually extend it some 130 kilometres, stretching
the length of the frontier.
If financed in full, work is expected to take two years, said project
manager Brigadier General Eran Ofir.
Military officials declined to comment on whether it includes underground
components to detect and stop tunnel digging, as are being constructed along
the border with the Gaza Strip.
The total cost is expected to be 1.7 billion shekels ($472 million, 406
million euros).
It is designed to be some nine metres (30 feet) high including steel mesh
on top — similar to the wall that cuts off the West Bank from Israel.
It is made of long concrete blocks, with tubes for technological components
protruding.
Israel’s military stresses it is closely coordinating the work with the UN
peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL.
Representatives of the Israeli and Lebanese armies meet roughly once a
month, with UNIFIL mediating, to coordinate not only work on the wall but
other issues that could lead to misunderstandings or clashes.
Israel and Lebanon have been involved in a series of conflicts over the
years and the two remain technically at war.
But the reason for the wall has less to do with the Lebaese army than
Hezbollah, an Israeli military official said.
– ‘Not just what you’ll see’ –
Tensions run deep between Israel and the Iranian-backed group.
Hezbollah has been preoccupied with other issues in recent years, having
sent several thousand of its fighters to back Syrian President Bashar al-
Assad in his country’s civil war.
It has lost many hundreds of fighters, including senior commanders, since
it deployed in Syria, where the war is now winding down.
But from Israel’s point of view, it has gained as well by learning new
tactics while fighting alongside Iranian and Russian troops, who are also
backing Assad.
Israel’s military believes Hezbollah has between 100,000 and 120,000 short-
range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred longer-range missiles.
But the potential for shootings and infiltrations, as well as the need for
surveillance, is the reason for the wall, it says.
“It’s not just what you’ll see, the cement wall,” the senior Israeli
military official said, adding there were components he could not talk about
that make “what we can see from this much, much better.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1735 hrs