Report: 5000 Hezbollah fighters along the Lebanese-Israeli borders

Hezbollah “was said to have deployed up to 5,000 fighters along the Lebanese border with Israel.” US newspaper , The World Tribune reported on Monday.

According to WT, “the Israeli military has collected evidence of a massive Hezbollah operational presence in Shiite villages along the Israeli-Lebanon border.”

The party operatives, engaged mostly in reconnaissance, “were said to be based in homes, schools and hospitals,” the daily added.

According to a report published in Israeli newspaper Haaretz on July 7, Hezbollah has an arsenal of some 40,000 short and medium range rockets stored in towns and villages south of the Litani River, with many of the weapons stored in private houses in South Lebanon towns bordering Israel.

Haaretz quoted Israel Defense Forces Colonel Ronen Merli as saying” Hezbollah also has hundreds of longer range M-600 rockets capable of striking major Israeli cities.”

“Hezbollah is establishing itself with increasing strength in the villages,” Merli said. “Every day they are engaged in digging, building and laying communications infrastructure to prepare themselves for war.”

During an interview with Al-Manar television on July 9, Hezbollah MP Walid Succariyeh said the Israel’s reports on Hezbollah’s arms depots in South Lebanon “could only be believed by naive people.

“ The report is a lie fabricated by Israel,” the MP said, adding that Tel Aviv will not likely attack Lebanon “because it is aware it will be defeated.”