Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan on Tuesday demanded that the UN take action against Hezbollah over posts it recently erected along the Israel-Lebanon border under the guise of an environmental organization.
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The Iranian-backed Shiite terrorist group has set up 18 observation posts along Israel's northern frontier, which are manned around the clock by Hezbollah operatives. Each post consists of an observation tower and adjacent residential structures and stands about 5-250 yards from the border.
The flag of a Lebanese civil organization, "Green Without Borders" flies over the posts, but while this is means to allegedly link the move to the Lebanese environmental group, the IDF exposed it as a fictitious organization founded by Hezbollah back in 2018.
In a letter to the UN Security Council and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Erdan warned that the "new reality on the Israel-Lebanon border points to a clear escalation that could ignite the entire region" and argued that the true objective of the post is intelligence gathering.
"Under the guise of the so-called 'Green without Borders' environmental organization, Hezbollah is expanding its terror footprints on a daily basis, just mere meters from Israel's northern border, and from within UNIFIL's area of operations."
"The use of this organization as a front for Hezbollah's malign activities has been recognized by the UN and described in several periodic reports of the secretary-general. As has been flagged by several UN reports and noted in relevant UN resolutions this perverse tactic of terror organizations hiding behind non-profits and NGOs is a growing phenomenon that is not only employed by Hezbollah, but by many other terror groups across the globe as well," Erdan wrote.
"These are military outposts for all intents and purposes, established and maintained by Hezbollah terrorists, and not innocent Lebanese environmentalists. This is part of the broader picture of Hezbollah's growing presence in Southern Lebanon and yet another example of its ongoing hostile activity in the area.
"Israel continues to stress that the responsibility for Hezbollah's expansion lies squarely on the shoulders of the Lebanese authorities, and expects the Lebanese government to take immediate action to curb Hezbollah's advancements and military buildup," the letter continued.
"Israel values its strong and positive working relationship with UNIFIL. It is in Israel's best interest to have a fully functional and capable peacekeeping force contributing to the prevention of terrorist activities along our northern border. Nonetheless, the current reality does not allow UNIFIL to carry
out its core tasks in accordance with its mandate. If the Security Council – and the UN as a whole – seeks to prevent the escalation of conflict, concrete action must be taken to ensure that Hezbollah no longer acts with impunity.
"Moreover, these 'shipping containers' should be removed. The State of Israel demands that the UN and its relevant bodies act now in order to facilitate the dismantling of all Hezbollah outposts in Southern Lebanon, and especially those military infrastructures recently erected along the Blue Line," the envoy stressed.
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