A week ago, Hezbollah issued a military alert in south Lebanon and Western Bekaa regions warning of a possible limited Israeli attack there that could pave the way for an offensive by jihadist groups based in the town of Shebaa and others coming in from southern Syria, a source familiar with the issue revealed.
For that reason, Hezbollah combat units were deployed in areas close to Khiam and Kfar Shuba, while members of a leftist party and Palestinian units from the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine’s General Command led by Palestinian Lt. Col. Riyad G. also spread out in Kfar Shuba.
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party also deployed in Mimas, while Hezbollah’s “Redwan” units were deployed in Mashghara, Sohmor, Yohmor, Qlaya and Zlaya.
Simultaneously, Hezbollah’s engineering units were working on setting up explosive-laden traps in case of an Israeli infiltration.
According to German intelligence security reports, Israel has recruited agents in Shebaa and Arqoub. A source familiar with the matter told The Daily Star that these agents are thought to be cooperating with terrorist cells related to takfiri organizations in the two Palestinian camps of Shatila and Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut.
The cells are composed of hundreds of militants who sneaked into Lebanon among Palestinian refugees from the Damascus camp of Yarmouk and are waiting to be given the green light to attack Hezbollah posts and institutions in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Attacks had been planned in Tripoli and Arsal, and there was even the possibility that Beirut might be attacked, according to the source. But the Lebanese Army succeeded in thwarting these plots, and remains completely ready to confront any extremists in whichever region.
The source said that Israel had allowed the militants to control the border crossing and other areas in Syria’s Qunaitra by helping them logistically and providing intelligence. Israel also permitted them to sneak toward southern Lebanese towns, with the support of extremist cells formed by Mossad in Arqoub towns and in Shebaa and Rashaya, according to the source. The members of these groups are reported to have entered Lebanon through the border crossings of Al-Ghajar and Syria’s Beit Jinn.
The United States apparently warned Israel not to start anything with Hezbollah after it emerged that the party had taken receipt of drones from Iran, according to the same source.
The party recently started to use the drones in Arsal and on its outskirts with great success in its fight against the Nusra Front and ISIS.
In the event of a confrontation breaking out between Hezbollah and Israel, it is likely the party’s fighters would manage to get further into Israel than the border settlements and perhaps even reach Tel Aviv, a Western intelligence source warned.
However, a Western diplomatic source in Beirut, commenting on the information, said he had ruled out an outbreak of chaos on Lebanese-Israeli borders.
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