The Israel-Lebanon border operates in déjà-vu mode. Each escalation takes the story of another tension already seen in the area, one of the most incendiary in the Middle East, which is measured by the devastating war of 2006.
Also this summer, with the distinction that in its idyllic valleys and apple fields, more daring, more threatening frictions are sprouting.
Like crossing the blue line – a limit that the United Nations set in the year 2000 to separate the two countries – and erecting two tents on the Shebaa farms. This is what the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah did in June in that area of ??about 14 square kilometers, which is on the Israeli side of the blue line, but is claimed by both Lebanon and Syria. Although today only one of those tents remains, this was the seed of a string of incidents.
In July, Hezbollah militants – some wearing masks, military uniforms or carrying the yellow flag of the political and paramilitary organization – approached the border fence on up to four different occasions, and from there they threw stones, started a fire and stole a camera. Israeli surveillance. On one of those occasions, three activists were wounded by warning fire from Israel, which has used this method to ward off those approaching the fence (and in some sections, the wall) of separation.
This containment strategy is “unacceptable” to Kobi Marom, a reserve colonel in the Israeli army and an expert on security on the northern border. According to him, Beniamin Netanyahu’s government transmits a “weakness” that has motivated Hezbollah to intensify its actions in the area, with the green light from its main sponsor, Iran.
Marom considers that Tehran is at a moment of “high level of confidence” thanks to its diplomatic repositioning: it has strengthened its relations with Russia, reestablished ties with Saudi Arabia and entered into indirect negotiations on its nuclear program with the US, through Oman’s mediation.
“They want to create a kind of war of attrition along the border, which is why lately we have seen almost daily friction between Israel and Hezbollah,” adds Marom from Mount Tzfia, a high area that allows you to see both a quarry that serves as a position for Hizbullah as villages on both sides of the border.
One of them is Ghajar, a small town of about 4,000 inhabitants of Alawite Arab origin that is part of the Syrian Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Here, despite its colorful houses and curious sculptures, It reflects the maximum territorial tension, especially since 2000, when the UN blue line split the community in two and created a Lebanese northern half and an Israeli southern half.
For more than two decades it was a military zone closed off by Israel until, last September, the local council, with the support of the Israeli defense, finished a fence around the village, lifted the restrictions and turned the isolated population of Ghajar into a tourist spot.
This fence is considered by the United Nations Interim Force for Lebanon (Unifil) a “continuous violation” of Israel, which has also breached its international commitments with regular overflights in Lebanese skies.
The recent renewal of the fence has only fueled Hizbullah’s denunciations of an Israeli attempt to annex the entire village.
Despite the context – which includes the firing of a Hezbollah anti-tank missile at Ghajar on July 6, returned by Israeli artillery fire – locals say all is calm in the town, a credible statement judging by the quiet of their streets. Now, beyond kindness, few are encouraged to express their thoughts to the press.
The only one, Jaber Khatib. A 30-year-old doctor who, while waiting for Israel to validate his degree obtained in Syria, works in a family pastry shop. He affirms that he is not afraid of the tensions because “I lived through the 2006 war when he was a child” and, “for now, the situation is calm.”
“There is a war of rhetoric between Israel and Hizbullah. I don’t know what will happen in the future. For three weeks, the situation has been felt in the town with a drop in tourism,” adds Khatib, while conveying his desire for “peace.”
The dialectical war that Jaber indicates has intensified hand in hand with actions. The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has once again called for “the release” of Ghajar and the resolution of other disputed areas, and has made it clear that they will respond to “any stupid act”: “Israel occupies parts of Lebanese territory and has the nerve to talk about Hizballah’s provocations.” He also predicts a “path of collapse, fragmentation and disappearance” for Israel in the wake of seven months of protests against judicial reform and other far-right coalition policies.
Marom, like other experts, believes that the internal Israeli crisis, with more than 10,000 volunteer reservists standing up, is seen by Hizbullah as “a great opportunity to escalate the situation.”
However, the Reuters agency has reported that, in meetings behind closed doors, officials from Iran, Hezbollah and Palestinian militias (which also operate in southern Lebanon and are accused of launching 36 rockets into northern Israel on 6 April) have recommended not having “direct interference” in the Israeli crisis to avoid providing a scapegoat for Netanyahu.
And another alternative is that Hizballah’s agenda pursues the objective of strengthening itself in Lebanese internal politics in the face of the prevailing power vacuum, with the election of a president unresolved since October 2022. “The more Hizbullah can show that it is powerful and relevant , the more you will feel that your chances of getting away with it increase, ”explained Professor Lina Khatib, director of the SOAS Middle East Institute in London, to the BBC.
In the psychological fight, Israel is not far behind, with shows of force such as the visits of President Isaac Herzog and military leaders to the border area; or statements such as that of the Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, this Sunday to the Saudi daily Elaph, in which he warns that Israeli military power “can return Lebanon to the stone age.”
Although neither Israel nor Hezbollah would have any intention of going to war now, fears of a larger conflict are growing. In She’ar Yashuv, a community with a Jewish majority four kilometers from the border, emergency teams say they are “prepared” for any eventuality.
“We feel safe, but in five minutes everything can change and we are at war. It could happen today or in a year, but I’m sure it will happen,” predicts Gideon Hariri, deputy head of emergencies at the site.
And he is right. In this limit of 112 kilometers, volatile and fertile apple trees, history has shown that any miscalculation can start a new climb.
