Oct 12, 2014

BEIRUT — The Shebaa Farms are back in the news headlines again. A roadside bomb exploded Oct. 7 near an Israeli patrol, injuring at least two Israeli soldiers and diverting attention from Syria to southern Lebanon's borders. A few hours after the incident, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar attributed the attack to Hezbollah, specifically, Hassan Ali Haidar’s group within the Islamic resistance movement. The group's namesake, Haidar, a Hezbollah member, was killed Sept. 5 after discovering an Israeli spying device that was then detonated remotely by an Israeli drone.

The Oct. 7 explosion marks the second time Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for an attack in the Shebaa Farms region since the Second Lebanon War (2006), which set new rules for the game. A Lebanese source told Al-Monitor, “Hezbollah is saying clearly that the old rules aren’t valid anymore and that any Israeli assault is going to be responded to. Israel is delusional that Hezbollah’s fight in Syria will prevent them from responding to aggressions. Hezbollah wanted to give them a wake-up call at the right place and time.”

According to the source, the attack was mainly in response to the Sept. 5 drone incident that killed Haidar. “There’s a need to tell Israel that whenever it’s going to attack, it better expect a response,” said the source, who recalled the latest statements by the Israeli army's chief of staff Benny Gantz that threatened to knock Lebanon back 80 years. “Hezbollah wanted to convey a message that these are empty threats and that they are ready for all scenarios: fighting in Syria, fighting in Lebanon, fighting anywhere — it’s a matter of being wherever duty calls.”

Since 2006, the Israel-Lebanon border has witnessed only a few security incidents, most of which occurred between 2013 and 2014. Excluding the Oct. 7 attack, the last attack in the Shebaa Farms region took place in May 2014. Hezbollah remained silent on the May 2014 attack until Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah told the Lebanese daily As-Safir that his men had launched the attack in retaliation for Israel’s April 2014 airstrike on a Hezbollah base in Janta, on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Prior to that, on Aug. 7, 2013, a group of Israeli soldiers had crossed 400 meters (0.25 miles) across the Lebanese border when a Hezbollah-planted land mine exploded, wounding four soldiers.