BICOM

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) yesterday unveiled its 11-kilometer-long, nine-meter-high concrete border wall along the Lebanese border.

The wall is split into two parts, one extending 5.7 kilometres from the Mediterranean coast to the town of Shlomi and another part that is 5.5-kilometer long from Metula to Misgav Am. The IDF says the barrier is needed to protect civilians in 22 Israeli villages from Hezbollah attacks.

A senior Northern Command officer told Israeli media yesterday that Hezbollah intends to infiltrate into Israel and hold Israeli territory in the event of a major conflict. Director of the Separation Barrier Administration, Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir, told reporters that he would like to build a wall along the entire length of the 130-kilometer Lebanese border, at a cost of NIS 1.7 billion.

Last month the Lebanese army complained to UNIFIL that Israeli bulldozers working on a barrier along the border were encroaching on into Lebanese territory. Earlier this year, Lebanon’s top security body described the planned border wall as an “aggression” against its sovereignty,” and gave instructions to prevent Israel from building the wall on Lebanese territory.

The IDF insists the entire barrier is being constructed in Israeli territory. UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said that since construction of the wall began in February 2018, everything has been built south of the Blue Line, the UN delineated Israel-Lebanon border, and away from sensitive areas.

An Israeli official said the army has noticed a troubling rise in “very close cooperation between Lebanese Army Forces and Hezbollah” near the Israeli border in the past year. Speaking at the Institute for Counter Terrorism Conference this week, former National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror said that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) will cooperate with Hezbollah in any future conflict with Israel. He also said that countries such as America and France who talk about improving the capacity of the LAF, will ultimately end up contributing to Hezbollah.