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Hizbullah Moves into "Every Town" in South Lebanon

[ Jerusalem Post] Yaakov Katz - Hizbullah is bolstering its presence in south Lebanon villages with non-Shi'ite majorities by buying land and using it to build military positions and store missiles and launchers. The decision to build infrastructure in non-Shi'ite villages - where Hizbullah has less support - is part of the group's post-war strategy under which it has mostly abandoned the "nature reserves," forested areas where it kept most of its Katyusha rocket launchers before the Second Lebanon War. Behind the change is the fact that UNIFIL peacekeeping forces can patrol freely throughout the countryside but cannot enter villages or cities without being accompanied by soldiers from the Lebanese Armed Forces, which regularly tips off Hizbullah ahead of raids. "Hizbullah is moving into every town that it can," a senior defense official said. "This is in order to evade UNIFIL detection." On Thursday, Lebanese complained they were receiving recorded phone messages from Israel promising "harsh retaliation" for any future Hizbullah attack. The automated messages also warn against allowing Hizbullah to form "a state within a state" in the country.
2008-07-18 01:00:00
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