The report, carried by Debka-Net website, said that in the past few weeks Hezbollah, upon instructions from Iran, seized control of Mount Sannine which it described as a "strategic asset capable of determining the outcome of the next war."
It said radar-guided missile positions and an early warning station have since been deployed on Sannine peak, "which are capable of monitoring and threatening U.S. Sixth Fleet movements in the eastern Mediterranean and Israel Air Force flights."
Debka-Net said that this development was "serious enough for Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to repeat three times in as many days that the IDF is keeping a close watch on events in the northern front, especially the deepening ties between Syria and the Lebanese Hezbollah."
Sannine's "takeover on behalf of Tehran places Israeli security at a grave disadvantage," it said.
The website quoted military sources as saying that "military movements carried out in the last two weeks by Hezbollah ... can only be interpreted as preparations for war."
Hezbollah kidnappings in Sannine
On June 23 Phalange Party leader and Lebanon's former president Amin Gemayel said hooded gunmen have kidnapped an undisclosed number of people who were vacationing in the Sannine Mountain range and released them after a while.
The captives, according to the sources, included "a citizen from Aql family and another citizen from the Khoury family."
The sources said the captives were "held for more than three hours during which they were interrogated individually in a tent that was part of a camp set up by the Hezbollah squad in the mountainous region."
Hezbollah denied any knowledge of the incident
Bout on June 30 Gemayel said , regarding the Sannine issue - this is not something we invented. Lebanese civilians, were the target of gunfire while having a picnic , were arrested and interrogated . Who arrested them, and why? We were told the gunmen belonged to the resistance. We know only Hezbollah has the power to plan and execute such events. We call on the army and ISF to deal with these issues as soon as possible, and find the truth. We also call on the army to deploy in that sensitive area."
