‘If we are bound to fight, we will exact a heavy price from Hezbollah,’ GOC Northern Command warns

“Despite Lebanon’s immense economic struggles, Hezbollah is persisting with its efforts to procure and arm itself with precision weapons with which to hit the Israeli home front, and it continues to prepare south of the Litani River to attack communities and roads in our territory,” says Maj. Gen. Amir Baram.

ISRAEL HAYOM

GOC Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, at Tel-Hai Academic College on Wednesday | Photo: Eyal Margolin / JINI

Head of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Amir Baram, said on Thursday that the Lebanon-based Hezbollah terrorist organization continues to violate United Nations resolutions through its actions along the border with Israel in a manner that puts the lives of Lebanese civilians in danger.

“Around two weeks ago, the president of Lebanon told the French press that Hezbollah is not involved in the decision-making process of the new Lebanese government and that he personally guarantees that Hezbollah will honor UN Resolution 1701,” Baram said at a conference hosted by the Tel-Hai Academic College in northern Israel.

“But what they say in French isn’t what is happening on the ground in Arabic. Hezbollah, under the patronage of the state of Lebanon, is blatantly flouting Resolution 1701. Hezbollah’s military activity in the Shiite villages [in southern Lebanon], such as Bint Jbeil and Ayta ash-Shab, are living proof of this,” Baram said. “The country of Lebanon and its leaders must act to prevent Hezbollah from violating Resolution 1701 and from knowingly endangering its citizens.”

Baram criticized the new Lebanese government, saying it was “two sides of the same coin – in other words, a government in which the Shiite terrorist organization is deeply embedded, the purpose of which is to protect its  interests by presenting a ‘false impression’ of reforms in regards to the residents of Lebanon.”

A UN peacekeeper in southern Lebanon walks past a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (Reuters/Ali Hashisho)

He added: “Hezbollah’s loyalty was and still is to the supreme leader of Iran, not the citizens of Lebanon. Moreover, despite Lebanon’s immense economic struggles, Hezbollah is persisting with its efforts to procure and arm itself with precision weapons with which to hit the Israeli home front, and it continues to prepare south of the Litani River to attack communities and roads in our territory.”

According to Baram, it is clear who bears ultimate responsibility. The Lebanese government in Beirut “knows it will pay an unbearable price” for terrorist provocations and activities.

The IDF general concluded his speech with an unmistakable warning to Hezbollah.

“If we are bound to fight, we will exact a heavy price from this organization [Hezbollah] and from those who afford it protection.”