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Reports: Israeli Raid in Lebanon Targeted Group that Threatened “To Set Up Missile Batteries to Directly Attack Israel.” Group Expresses Surprise at Being Targeted.

by TheTower.org Staff |

Details emerged throughout today regarding the pin-point strike conducted by Israeli Air Force jets overnight against a “terror site” south of Beirut in Lebanon, which occurred less than 24 hours after four rockets had been fired into Israel from Lebanon. Social media accounts and news outlets had quickly narrowed the raid to the Na’ameh area, which contains military infrastructure controlled by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC). The organization is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

More pointedly, the PFLP-GC had earlier this year been activated by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime to attack Israel. The group’s leaders bragged about their intention to strike Israel:

“Syria has given the green light to set up missile batteries to directly attack Israeli targets,” Anwar Raja of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command told The Associated Press. He said authorities also told the PFLP-GC that the group could carry out attacks independently without consulting Syrian authorities.

PFLP-GC officials nonetheless expressed surprise at the overnight IAF action.

Very early speculation regarding the raid had also suggested that Hezbollah or the Al Qaeda-linked group Abdullah Azzam Brigades (AAB). Various scenarios had linked both the groups – which are violently in opposition – to the rocket attack on Israel that preceded the IAF action. The attack took place out of Hezbollah territory but was claimed by the AAB.

The sheer range of different groups linked to these incidents will be read against a general deterioration of security in southern Lebanon.

The Lebanese Armed Forces had began withdrawing from the region last spring, creating a power vacuum that analysts predicted at the time would be filled in by terror groups. Alongside the LAF’s withdrawal, Hezbollah began pointedly threatening the U.N.’s peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Lebanese border, and E.U. contributors have threatened to withdraw their troops due to the environment.

[Photo: idfblog.com]

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