The Israeli authorities did not confirm or deny reports regarding the dismantling of one of the tents on Monday morning.
By World Israel News Staff
The Hezbollah terror group dismantled a tent it had built in an illegal outpost on the Israeli side of the Lebanon-Israel border fence, just days after claiming that Jerusalem would need to declare war in order for the encampment to be removed.
Hebrew-language media reported that at least one of the tents had been taken down overnight and without an official statement from Hezbollah acknowledging that it was doing so.
The Ynet news outlet reported that while the tent had been dismantled, the Hezbollah operatives occupying it had not left the area – rather, they are now stationed in another tent on the Israeli side of the border that has remained untouched.
The Israeli authorities did not confirm or deny reports regarding the dismantling of one of the tents on Monday morning.
Over the weekend, a lawmaker representing the terror group in the Lebanese parliament told Arabic-language media that Israel’s complaints regarding the violation of its territory did not move Hezbollah, and that Jerusalem should either “shut up” or declare war to remove the tents.
Israel has repeatedly sought to avoid a direct confrontation with Lebanon over the issue, instead reaching out to international bodies and the U.S. in order to pressure Beirut to remove the outpost.
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan sent an open letter to the body’s UNIFIL peacekeeping force, which is responsible for ensuring stability on the Blue Line, noting that the tents constituted a violation of the status quo.
But despite the UN admitting that the tents were indeed illegal and located in Israeli territory, the body refused to condemn Hezbollah or make any moves to force the terror group to remove them.
The tent construction came just months after two attacks against Israel launched across the Lebanese border.
During the Passover holiday in April 2023, the largest barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon towards Israel since the 2006 war struck the town of Shlomi in northern Israel. No injuries were reported, though multiple buildings were damaged.
In March 2023, a terrorist affiliated with Hezbollah infiltrated into Israel and placed a bomb near a major road, which seriously wounded a motorist.