Israeli aircraft reportedly carried out an airstrike near the Syria-Lebanon border late Monday. Israel has declined to comment on the situation and there has been no confirmation from Lebanon, according to the AP.
However, Lebanon’s National News Agency has taken a guess that the strikes happened near Nabi Sheet which is a remote village in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The residents of Nabi Sheet say otherwise. Jaafar al-Musawi, head of Nabi Sheet Municipality, said there was no airstrike on the town.
“We heard warplanes followed by explosions, it could be along the border with Syria,” he said.
A report from AFP includes commentary from a Lebanese security source who said, “two Israeli raids hit a Hezbollah target on the border of Lebanon and Syria.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to take military action before, which would prevent Syria from shipping weapons to Hezbollah, Syria’s ally. Israel has also carried out several airstrikes inside Syria to halt suspicious shipments of missiles. These shipments sometimes include Russian anti-aircraft missiles and guided missiles from Iran.
There is also this seeming confirmation from Israel’s “Yediot Aharonot”, which blared from the front page, “Foreign reports: Israeli strike in Lebanon”. The paper also referred to strikes Israel supposedly admitted carrying out against Hezbollah in Syria last year.
Israeli officials do believe that Hezbollah has restocked its arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles after the month-long war back in 2006 between the archenemies that ended in a blood-soaked stalemate. Some of these rockets and missiles are said to be able to reach just about anywhere in the Jewish state.
Over the weekend, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Benny Gantz made remarks that seemed to imply that something could go down.
“We are monitoring closely the transfer of all types of weapons to all fronts,” Gantz said. “Sometimes, in case of necessity, something can happen.”
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