Criticism of the “Lebanese Forces” for Aoun’s silence on the party’s accountability
NNA – Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper wrote: Yesterday, the Lebanese border witnessed tension that spread to the airspace of the capital Beirut and its southern suburbs, where Hezbollah is stronghold, following the party announced that it had launched a drone that flew for forty minutes for a distance of 70 kilometers over northern Israel. , which responded with the movements of its army at the border and with two fighter planes that flew over the Lebanese capital at a very low altitude. Yesterday, the party had adopted the launch of the drone, hours following the Israeli army announced that it had fired at a march that crossed Israel’s airspace in the north, in the second incident of its kind in two days.
A Hezbollah drone was repeated for the second day in a row over northern Israel, the day following the Israeli army shot down a Hezbollah drone on Thursday. The Israeli army said in a statement yesterday (Friday), that “a small hostile drone infiltrated from Lebanon into Israeli territory, where alarms were activated in the Galilee region, which prompted the residents to seek shelters in northern Israel.” The army added that “interceptor missiles were fired from the Iron Dome system,” adding that “planes and helicopters were called, and following a few minutes the plane disappeared,” noting that “the incident is under investigation.”
Hezbollah claimed the launch of the march. In a statement regarding the operation, he said: “We launched the (Hassan) drone inside the occupied Palestinian territories and toured the targeted area for forty minutes on a reconnaissance mission that extended along seventy kilometers to the north.” He added, “Despite all the multiple and successive attempts to bring it down, the Hassan plane returned safely following it successfully carried out the required mission and without affecting its movement, all the existing and followed procedures.”
No position was issued by the Lebanese authorities in response to the incident, to which Israel responded by flying two warplanes over the southern suburbs of Beirut and the Lebanese capital at a very low altitude that allowed the residents to see them with the naked eye, which caused panic among the residents.
The official “National News Agency” had reported this morning that “the enemy Israeli warplanes carried out a number of mock air raids over areas in southern Lebanon.” She also indicated that an Israeli infantry force “crossed the technical fence at the locality of Karum al-Sharqi, opposite the town of Mays al-Jabal, Marjayoun district, with the support of the Hammer jeep on the military road adjacent to the technical fence”, and that it “carried out an inspection in the area.”
The Israeli army had said the day before yesterday (Thursday) that it had “downed a drone belonging to the (Hezbollah) organization that infiltrated Israeli airspace from Lebanon.”
The Lebanese do not view the repetition of the incident in the past two days as carrying military messages, in light of the calm that the southern Lebanese border has witnessed since last summer. Member of the “Strong Republic” bloc, MP Wahbi Qatisha, said that the implications of the incident are “political”, pointing out to Asharq Al-Awsat that the incident is “related to the Iranian-American negotiations”, as it is “related to the parliamentary elections in Lebanon.”
Qatisha said that Iran “is using Lebanese territory as a mailbox to send messages to the Americans because of the faltering negotiations of the Iranian nuclear file in Vienna,” explaining that the general trend of those talks “indicates that they are heading for failure, so Lebanese territory is being used to pressure the Americans from southern Lebanon, Through Hezbollah, the Iranian arm through which they can pressure Israel to soften American positions in the Vienna negotiations by sending drones or projectiles.
Qatisha, a retired general from the Lebanese army, points out that the incident cannot be separated from the Lebanese interior, explaining that the military escalation on the southern front “is seen as a prelude to disrupting the parliamentary elections, the results of which (Hezbollah) and its allies are afraid of.” He believed that any deterioration in security “might push for the postponement or cancellation of the elections,” adding that the political dimensions of the recurring incident “are read according to this internal and external assessment.”
The first incident came two days following Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah announced that the party had the ability to convert thousands of its missiles into precision missiles, and it was now producing drones. He said, “We have long since started manufacturing marches in Lebanon,” calling on those who wish to buy them to “submit an application.”
Israel has said in the past that it shot down several Hezbollah drones that crossed Israeli airspace. The party says that the increase in its anti-drone capabilities has led to a decrease in the frequency of Israeli drone flights. Last January, Israeli security sources told Agence France-Presse that the drones, which were recently shot down by Israel following flying across the border from Lebanon, “revealed the growing capabilities of aerial reconnaissance that Iran-backed Hezbollah is now enjoying.” .
While the Israeli army says that it will “continue to work to prevent any violation of the sovereignty” of the Jewish state, it installs near the border with Lebanon an air command center that includes regarding twenty officers whose mission is to monitor Hezbollah’s drones.
Criticism of the “forces”
The Lebanese Forces party criticized Lebanese President Michel Aoun for not holding Hezbollah accountable for the precision missiles and drones, noting in the words of the head of the Foreign Relations Agency, former Minister Richard Koyumjian, that “the manufacture of any missiles or drones falls within the framework of military equipment, and this must be done.” That it be in accordance with the absolute exclusivity of the Lebanese state.”
Kyumjian said that by law, it is forbidden for any civilian party to manufacture military equipment “unless the manufacturer obtains the approval of the Ministry of Defense and for strategic purposes.” However, he stressed, in a radio interview, that “(Hezbollah) does not care regarding anyone and has its own strategy and regional connections and owns its own army, security, intelligence services and financial funding from Iran.” He continued: (Hezbollah) has conquered its account, establishes a state within the state, and seeks to strengthen its military, security and financial components. “Lebanon adheres to the resolutions of international legitimacy, and Resolution 1701 governs the situation of the southern border region, as well as the Blue Line, and there is the Lebanese army and the (UNIFIL) forces concerned with ensuring that,” Koyumjian said. He added, “Iran, which has previously announced that it is present in 4 Arab capitals, is using (Hezbollah) to send messages to the United States of America and to pressure the ongoing negotiations in Geneva.” He believed that “the directing of a march to Israel today (yesterday) and the repeated attacks in the past days once morest the forces of (UNIFIL) come as a matter of proving their existence.” He believed that “Hezbollah’s propaganda practices and confrontations will only lead to one result, which is the weakening of the Lebanese state and its image in international forums, which leads to further isolation of Lebanon and the impoverishment of its people.”
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