Friday, August 1, 2008

“Hezbollah Planning to Force IAF to Cease Overflights"


Al-Manar

"01/08/2008 The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported in its Thursday's edition that Hezbollah is planning to take "practical measures" to counter Israeli occupation air force overflights of Lebanon.

The Lebanese daily quoted a source who said that Hezbollah is "close to adopting practical measures that will force Israel to cease the overflights."

The report is in line with Israeli intelligence assessments that predicted that following the completion of the “Operation Al-Redwan” (the exchange deal between Israel and Hezbollah); Hezbollah would seek excuses to resume its struggle against the Zionist entity in order to justify its refusal to disarm.

There have been a number of reports in the Arab media recently on the planned deployment of anti-aircraft missile batteries in the Lebanese mountains, whose purpose would be to disrupt the flights of Israeli aircraft over the country.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said recently that the resistance group would adopt a new "defensive strategy" in Lebanon, with the cooperation of the country's other political groups.

On Wednesday, the resistance organization published a condemnation of Israeli overflights and said that those responsible for stopping them are the government in Beirut and the United Nations. It accused Israel of violating Lebanese sovereignty by flying into its airspace and sailing into its territorial waters, and accused United Nations Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon of failing to put an end to the violations.

The Israeli air force has carried out hundreds of intelligence and surveillance flights since the occupation army’s withdrawal in 2000. Israel maintains that the flights are necessary for its security, despite protests by the Lebanese government and the UN. "

No comments: