Future: Hezbollah giving Israel excuses to attack

BEIRUT: Hezbollah is giving Israel reasons to attack Lebanon, the Future movement said in a statement published after its weekly meeting Wednesday.

Giving Israel “free excuses” to attack Lebanon “raises questions about the consequences this may have on Lebanon” in light of the critical phase the region is facing, the statement said.

Israel forces launched 23 shells at areas near the Shebaa hills at a rate of about three shells per minute Tuesday after a Hezbollah-planted bomb exploded and wounded two Israeli soldiers on the south Lebanon border.

Responding to Israeli violations in south Lebanon, the bloc said that the incursions and attacks "constitute a flagrant violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and ... Lebanese sovereignty."

Separately, the bloc renounced a fierce militant assault on a Hezbollah post in Brital Sunday, calling the attack a “continued attempt to pull Lebanon into the [Syrian] conflict zone” and reiterating its call for a swift withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from Syria.

“The responsibility of defending Lebanon falls exclusively on the Lebanese state, which is represented by the Army and official security forces,” said the movement. It pointed to Article 14 of U.N. Resolution 1701 as the only exception that allows the Lebanese government to resort to U.N. troops to man the southern border.

Commenting on the hostage crisis, the movement said the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters from Syria in return for all at least 21 kidnapped military and security personnel would constitute the “most important trade-off."

Bloc members also expressed their optimism over the processing of Saudi Arabia’s two grants to Lebanon, $1 billion for general security purposes and $3 billion for French-made arms. “The French part of the donation will be implemented very soon in cooperation with the Lebanese Army and security forces” added the statement.