Hezbollah blinding Israeli drivers, pedestrians nightly with lasers

The cross-border harassment aimed at Metullah residents has been going on for weeks.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Hezbollah activists have been harassing residents of the northern town of Metullah from across the border for the last several weeks by using powerful lasers, Channel 11 reported Monday evening.

Standing on a hill in Lebanon that is perhaps 180 meters from the town, they shine a blinding green light into Jewish homes, at pedestrians, and perhaps most hazardously, into the eyes of Israeli drivers.

This kind of laser can cause irreparable damage to people’s eyes, including permanent blindness, the report said.

The IDF has not yet found a solution to the problem.

In an effort keep the long-distance stalkers away from their gathering spot, a large floodlight was placed for several days at the most directly affected area, the town’s popular promenade, to shine a revealing beam at them. This has not discouraged Hezbollah, and it was taken away a few days ago.

The Northern Command has turned to the UNIFIL forces that have been stationed on the border since 1978 and whose formal mandate includes assisting the Lebanese government to return its effective authority in the border area rather than leaving Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, in charge.

This was one of the conditions Israel set down for ending the 2006 Second Lebanon War against Hezbollah forces that controlled the southern region of the country, but it has yet to be fulfilled. In the event, it would most likely make no difference, as Hezbollah is part of the government in Beirut and has infiltrated many of its own men into the Lebanese armed forces.

The UN has promised to intervene, but nothing has been done to date.

An army spokesperson apparently tried to put a positive spin on the military’s efforts, saying, “The IDF is in close contact with the residents of the sector and works in cooperation with them continuously to strengthen the sense of security in the area in the best possible way.”

Hezbollah is also trying to stymie other IDF moves in the area. While the terror group has seemingly given up on digging attack tunnels through to Israel, in parallel to the army’s current construction of 15-meter-high walls to prevent overland infiltration, Hezbollah is putting up simple but even taller towers on its side of the border so that the terrorists can continue to observe Israeli activity.