DEBKAfile Exclusive: Hizballah reneges on its deal for the Lebanese army and the UN force’s missions in South Lebanon

September 13, 2006, 11:41 PM (GMT+02:00)

Until Wednesday night, the Shiite terror group stood by its consent to the Lebanese army on the border with Israel handling any military problems or clashes with Israel, with Hizballah assisting. Now, Hizballah has gone back on this deal and announced that henceforth its own forces will no longer wait for the Lebanese army to act but send its own forces into action against Israel. This is the first time since the UN-brokered went into effect on July 14 that Hizballah has threatened direct military action against Israel.

This also opens the way for its men to shoot at any Israeli aircraft entering Lebanese skies and any naval craft in Lebanese waters. In a second statement, Hizballah warned Berlin that German troops posted at Lebanese air ports, seaports or Lebanese-Syrian border posts would be legitimate targets for attack. The warning came just hours after the German government approved a 2,400 naval and air contingent for the UN Lebanon force.

The Hizballah threat applied also to all the foreign contingents serving with expanded UNIFIL, thereby limiting their area of operation to the border with Israel.