Israeli Fears and Threats on the Rise Ahead of Lebanese Polls
Israel”s concerns about a possible Hizbullah win in the upcoming parliamentary elections are increasing as the defense minister warned the Lebanese from the consequences of voting for the group and the army chief said there is a possibility that Lebanon "will fall to the radicals."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told reporters in Tel Aviv Tuesday that Israeli intelligence services expect a bolstering of Hizbullah”s power after the June 7 polls.
"Today Hizbullah owns around a third of cabinet ministers. If Hizbullah wins the elections with a large margin, Lebanon will expose itself to the might of the Israeli army more than any time in the past," Barak warned ahead of his visit to Washington.
A possible Hizbullah win "will give us the freedom of movement that we didn”t have" in July 2006, he stressed.
In a related development Israeli Army chief Gabi Ashkenazi told a Knesset committee meeting that Hizbullah has more rockets than before the 2006 war and is boosting its power in south Lebanon ahead of the elections.
"Hizbullah is secretly bolstering its power south of the Litani river, but UNIFIL”s presence is making that task more difficult. Today it has more rockets and long-range ammunition than it did before" the war, Israeli daily Haaretz quoted him as saying.
He warned that Hizbullah is still planning to avenge last year”s assassination of its commander Imad Mughniyeh. "Hizbullah has been intimidated and restrained, but it is still planning a response."
The army chief called the June 7 elections "a fascinating electoral campaign between a radical axis and moderates. This confrontation will determine which direction Lebanon will take, and it is possible it will fall to the radicals."