by Oded Granot
Nasrallah claims to be Lebanon's "defender" but he has no qualms about sacrificing Lebanon's interests to please Iran
Over two days have
passed since Israel exposed Hezbollah's terror tunnels under the
Israel-Lebanon border, and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, as well
as the Shiite terrorist group's other top officials, have all remained
mum.
Following a string of stammered statements
in Hezbollah-affiliated media, mostly speculating that Operation
Northern Shield seeks to distract Israelis from Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's legal troubles, it fell to Nabih Berri, Lebanon's
parliament speaker, to assert that "there are no tunnels. If anyone
says there are, let them show me where."
The lack of any real reaction from
Hezbollah, which is very uncharacteristic, is a direct result of the
shock crippling it over the Israeli operation. This shock is
understandable. Hezbollah's tunneling project was one of Nasrallah's
top secret schemes and only a handful of his confidants within the
organization knew about it.
Hezbollah's confidence that it was
operating under Israel's radar was so ironclad that the project
continued even when reports surfaced that the IDF was looking into
complaints by the residents of the border-adjacent communities about
strange digging noises near the border.
And then, out of the blue, this expansive –
and expensive – project collapsed right before Nasrallah's eyes. One
tunnel is fully exposed to the world, another's location has been
revealed and before you know it, the IDF announces it has information
about the entire grid. This means that this was not a random discovery
but one based on highly accurate intelligence, meaning that Hezbollah
has been significantly compromised.
It should be said that the discovery of
Hezbollah's cross-border terror tunnels, significant as it may be,
does little to change the fundamental balance of power between Israel
and the Shiite terrorist group.
Nasrallah is a bitter enemy and Hezbollah
is a mini-army of highly motivated terrorists, who are skilled in
battle and are armed with 150,000 missiles that threaten Israel
nationwide.
We must also remember that Hezbollah would
be willing to contain Operation Northern Shield as long as it takes
place on the Israeli side of the border. Should the IDF deem it
necessary to cross into Lebanese territory Hezbollah will retaliate,
even though its tunnels' infringement on Israeli sovereignty is just
as grave, if not graver, than a potential IDF infringement on Lebanon's
sovereignty. Moreover, if Israel decides to target Hezbollah's
missile-production facilities in Beirut, harsh retaliation by the
group is all but guaranteed.
Meanwhile, both parties are waging a
psychological war, but this time, Israel has the upper hand in terms
of public diplomacy.
This goes beyond the clear-cut evidence
that Hezbollah's tunnel enterprise blatantly violates U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1701 and Israeli sovereignty, as here, a picture is
worth far more than a thousand words: Hezbollah's TV channel Al Manar
airs daily propaganda videos showing the group's "fearless fighters"
training for battle with Israel, but now, an IDF video showing
Hezbollah operatives flee in panic from the exposed tunnel has gone
viral, dealing morale a well-aimed blow.
Exposing the tunnels also exposed
Nasrallah's true colors as one who, while professing to be Lebanon's
"defender," actually has no qualms about sacrificing its interests to
please his Iranian patrons.
On Wednesday, commentator Ahmed Ayyash
wrote in An-Nahar daily that Hezbollah was dragging Lebanon down the
tunnels with it, warning that Beirut will not be immune to the
consequences of Nasrallah's recklessness.
Oded Granot
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2018/12/06/hezbollah-leader-has-shown-his-true-colors/
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