"Hizbullah Planning to Force IAF to Cease Overflights"

Source: Al-Manar TV, 1-8-2008

The Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported in its Thursday's edition that Hizbullah is planning to take "practical measures" to counter "Israeli" occupation air force overflights of Lebanon.
The Lebanese daily quoted a source who said that Hizbullah is "close to adopting practical measures that will force "Israel" to cease the overflights."

The report is in line with "Israeli" intelligence assessments that predicted that following the completion of the "Operation Al-Redwan" (the exchange deal between "Israel" and Hizbullah); Hizbullah would seek excuses to resume its struggle against the Zionist entity in order to justify its refusal to disarm.

There have been a number of reports in the Arab media recently on the planned deployment of anti-aircraft missile batteries in the Lebanese mountains, whose purpose would be to disrupt the flights of "Israeli" aircraft over the country.

Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said recently that the resistance group would adopt a new "defensive strategy" in Lebanon, with the cooperation of the country's other political groups.

On Wednesday, the resistance organization published a condemnation of "Israeli" overflights and said that those responsible for stopping them are the government in Beirut and the United Nations. It accused "Israel" of violating Lebanese sovereignty by flying into its airspace and sailing into its territorial waters, and accused United Nations Interim Forces in Southern Lebanon of failing to put an end to the violations.

The "Israeli" air force has carried out hundreds of intelligence and surveillance flights since the occupation army's withdrawal in 2000. "Israel" maintains that the flights are necessary for its security, despite protests by the Lebanese government and the UN.