Mayors of communities near the border with Lebanon said on Sunday that their residents are exposed to danger after the Iran-backed Hezbollah group was acting with impunity along the border. Speaking to Ynet the mayors claimed Israel's sovereignty had been violated. Meanwhile two men from the Lebanese side of the border crossed into an area where IDF was employing heavy equipment and only after soldiers fired warning shots into the air, did they retreat.
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"The situation forced upon us in the past year is one we have not known in the past," Moshe Davidovitz the mayor of one regional council, said. "Hezbollah is violating all previous agreements pertaining to the border. We've seen katyusha rocket fire, tents being erected inside Israeli territory and Members of the Lebanon-based terror group attempting to disrupt the military in its operations. The defense of our residents is compromised at the moment," he said adding that there is no protection for those along the border.
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IDF troops put out a fire ignited by Hezbollah operatives on the Israel-Lebanon border last month
(Photo: AP)
"The First and most significant thing right now is to understand that Israel's sovereignty on the northern border has been compromised and what we need is adequate shelters for residents of the north. Protection. There is no question that war is coming, the only thing we do not know is when," he said. "We have been practicing endlessly for any emergency and have a comprehensive plan in place to evacuate the population in the communities along the border, should such an order be given.
"Violations of sovereignty start small and grow to rocket-fire," Avichai Stern, mayor of Kiryat Shmona, the largest city in the Upper Galilee, said. "Accepting such incidents will lead to escalation."
Metula Mayor David Azulai said these are the final days of the 2006 UN resolution to end the fighting after the second Lebanon War. "We see armed Hezbollah members on the border fence daily. My greatest fear is that they will repeat what they had done between 2000 and 2006." In the years following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, Hezbollah launched attacks on Israeli communities, including incursions into Israel and residents of the north lived under constant threat.