Report: Israel tells Hezbollah via Shea that it doesn't want war

Israel sent a message to Hezbollah through U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea during the Eid al-Adha holiday, saying that the Israeli army “does not want a war” over two Hezbollah tents that Israel says are placed several kilometers inside the occupied Shebaa Farms, a media report said.

Moreover, the message says that Israel “will not remove the two tents by force” and that “the issue is in the hands of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL),” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

“Shea requested an urgent meeting from caretaker PM Najib Mikati to inform him of the message” and “Mikati called Hezbollah’s leadership to inform it of the content of the U.S. message,” the daily added.

The U.S. ambassador for her part told Mikati that her administration hopes the Lebanese government would push for “an agreement between the army command and UNIFIL forces to address the two tents’ crisis” and that “pacifying the rhetoric and refraining from further movements by Hezbollah and the citizens who support it in the aforementioned area would contribute to defusing Israel’s tension,” the newspaper said.

Shea added that Israel’s government “does not intend to escalate or carry out any military act in this region nor in other Lebanese regions” and that “it would be better not to witness any military act against Israel from Lebanese territory in connection with what’s going on in Palestine,” al-Akhbar added.

The area where the tents were erected in Shebaa Farms and the Kfarshouba Hills was captured by Israel from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war. The Lebanese government says the area belongs to Lebanon.

Israeli media reported Sunday that Hezbollah evacuated one of the two tents but there has been no confirmation from the Iran-backed Lebanese group.