Report: Hezbollah removes one of two tents from Shebaa farms
Hezbollah has removed one of two tents set up in the Shebaa Farms between Lebanon and Israel, several Israeli media reports said.
On Sunday, Israeli Energy Minister Israel Katz told a radio station that Israel was trying to let diplomacy work to resolve the issue.
"Israel is not interested in war, but we won’t allow our red lines to be crossed," the minister said.
Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said Saturday that Israel is "unable" to remove the tents, and that no one "can impose anything anymore."
An Israeli news portal claimed last week that the U.S. was pressuring Lebanon’s government to clear out the outpost.
"We prefer Hezbollah to evacuate the outpost over us bombing them. We have made this clear to the U.S. and the Americans made it clear to the Lebanese," an Israeli official was quoted as saying.
The Shebaa Farms had been captured by Israel during the 1967 Mideast War and are claimed by Lebanon.
Last month, a Lebanese villager tried to stop an Israeli bulldozer from digging a trench along the border in the nearby Kfarshouba village, which Beirut also says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel.
Once the villager's legs were covered with sand as the bulldozer moved ahead, U.N. peacekeepers jumped in and convinced the driver to move back. Videos of the elderly man with his legs stuck in the sand dune went viral on social media.