The outpost was set up in early April north of the border fence but on the Israeli side of the U.N.-marked Blue Line in the Mount Dov region. The position, located across from an Israeli military base, was reportedly manned by three to eight armed terrorists.
The move comes after Jerusalem reportedly sent a message to Hezbollah threatening a confrontation unless the outpost was removed.
Israeli officials believe that the Iranian-backed terror group is responding in kind to avoid a conflict, the reports said.
On Saturday, the head of Hezbollah’s political wing in the Lebanese parliament told Israel to “be quiet” and rescind its demand for the terror group to remove the outpost.
Mohammad Raad, leader of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, was quoted by Arab media as saying that “the enemy is demanding the removal of the two tents and prefers that the resistance do it because it doesn’t want to enter into an undesirable war.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly discussed the incursion during a briefing last month to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
The Israel Defense Forces said only that “the matter was known and being addressed by relevant parties,” reportedly UNIFIL, the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.
UNIFIL was established in 1978 to confirm Israel’s military withdrawal from Lebanon. After the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel, UNIFIL’s mandate was expanded to monitor the cessation of hostilities.
Israeli authorities have repeatedly accused the force of failing to contain Hezbollah, which has militarized huge swaths of Lebanon in contravention of international law.
According to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 conflict, the terrorist group is forbidden from operating anywhere near the frontier.
In May, Israel’s Foreign Ministry revealed that the Iranian-backed group had over the past year constructed no fewer than 27 military posts along the Blue Line.
The posts were built under the guise of Green without Borders, a Hezbollah-affiliated organization that poses as an environmental NGO.
On March 15, a terrorist who infiltrated from Lebanon planted a roadside bomb in northern Israel that severely wounded a motorist. Shareef ad-Din, 21, from the Israeli Arab town of Salem, was wounded when the explosive device detonated behind a barrier by the side of the road near the Megiddo Junction, some 18 miles southeast of Haifa.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
(Additional reporting provided by JNS Reporter)
