METULLA — Despite the relative quiet along the northern border this week, Israel is hoping for the best but expecting hostilities to resume once the United Nations verifies the pullback to the border is complete.
The Israeli Defense Force is preparing for a possible conflagration at Mount Dov, where there are no civilians but a lot of IDF forces and the disputed Shabaa farms, senior military sources said Monday.
The Israeli army fears eruptions after the United Nations verifies that Israel has complied with the 1978 Security Council Resolution 425 calling for complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his group’s gunmen will keep their arms, despite Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon, to face “Israel’s daily threats.”
On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador Martin Indyk pledged $50 million to help Israel strengthen security along the northern border. On a visit to the border town of Metulla, Indyk made it clear that the U.S. would consider it “absolutely unacceptable” for anyone to attack Israel from across the internationally recognized boundary.
Israel Foreign Minister David Levy suggested that Israel might be willing to release Lebanese prisoners, as suggested Sunday by U.N. special envoy Terje Larsen, if the release would bring peace to the northern border.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised the United States for its support of the withdrawal. Barak was scheduled to meet Thursday with President Clinton in Lisbon, to discuss both Palestinian and Lebanese peace processes.
Meanwhile, on the Israel-Lebanon border, the IDF continued to make adjustments as it obeyed orders to pull back from every inch of Lebanese soil. Combat engineers blew up a total of 11 outposts on or over the border.
Work is continuing to build a new patrol road and adjust the location of sophisticated border fence. The IDF is now maintaining outposts along the border as lookouts, fire stations, and defensive positions. But most forces are being kept mobile, the sources said.
On Monday, Israel distributed weapons to residents of the northern communities due to weekend violence, despite Barak statement’s that Israel will not be quick on the trigger, and will do everything in its power to create stability on the ground. Scenes of demonstrations and rock-throwing quieted, however, as the Lebanese army and Hezbollah set up roadblocks to keep civilians from reaching the area.
The former commander of what was the South Lebanon Army, Gen. Antoine Lahad, visited with some refugees from Lebanon. In some places, Lahad got a hero’s welcome, but in others, he met with disgruntled officers and men who called him a traitor.