Israel holds military drill in the occupied Golan Heights as tensions mount on Lebanon-Israel border

The Israeli army announced on Monday it began a series of military exercises in the Hula Valley and occupied Golan Heights which will continue until Thursday.

The army said that explosions would be heard and that there would be movement of vehicles and sections of streets in the area would be closed.

The drills were pre-arranged as part of the military's annual training plan for 2023 and weren't related to recent developments on the northern borders, the Israeli army said, in reference to recent tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border.

It came just days after Israel's army radio revealed that dozens of Lebanese soldiers and Hezbollah members had stormed the border and stayed inside an area Israel considers under its sovereignty for twenty minutes.

They later left after Israeli communications with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the report said.

The incident joins a flurry of recent occurrences at the border. In one, Hezbollah members erected two tents inside the Shebaa Farms area, which is occupied by Israel, before removing one and keeping the other.

US offer to remove Hezbollah tents

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Israel's Channel 12 website stated that the US had made an offer to Israel according to which Hezbollah would agree to remove the remaining tent at the border in return for Israel halting the construction of a security barrier it had started building in Ghajar village, part of which is located on the Lebanese side (the other part being located in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights).

"The goal of the Israeli government is the land, as it wants the land, but not the people. Therefore it chose to put these turbines on land belonging to the Golan people and not other areas." https://t.co/laFaleN1VB

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) July 9, 2023

The channel said that Hezbollah saw the barrier as violating Lebanon's sovereignty, and therefore "Israeli assessments indicate that the launch of an anti-tank missile last week didn't come from nowhere."

The site claimed Israel was making diplomatic efforts to reach a solution due to the anxiety caused by the tents but it was not certain its efforts would succeed.

The longer the tent remained the stronger the chance of confrontation, stated Channel 12, adding that the Israeli security establishment has made it clear to Hezbollah that they would remove the tents even if they had to move into a military confrontation.

Channel 12's website said there was ongoing "discussion in the Israeli army on how to deal with the issue in light of the complex situation" with some urging for immediate action and others warning of the dangers of complicating matters.

According to the channel, the Israeli government wants to exhaust all options through political channels in front of the US, France and UNIFIL before taking any military action.

This article is based on an article which appeared in our Arabic edition by Nayif Zidane on 10 July 2023. To read the original article click here.