Was Mount Dov incident another Hollywood show for Hezbollah?
In this day and age, everything is filmed. So where is the footage of the infiltrators crossing into Israel? Where is the drone footage of the area at the time of the incident?
By ANNA AHRONHEIMSmoke rises from the disputed Shebaa Farms area as seen from Marjayoun village in southern Lebanon, Lebanon July 27, 2020.(photo credit: REUTERS/KARAMALLAH DAHER)
Monday’s incident between the IDF and Hezbollah is still fresh in everyone’s mind.The IDF claims to have successfully thwarted an attack by an armed cell belonging to the Lebanese terrorist group that had infiltrated into Israeli territory.But the questions are piling up.The IDF said the Hezbollah cell had been identified by military reconnaissance as it crossed the Blue Line before being engaged by troops and fleeing. The military said it was unsure if any of the infiltrators were wounded or killed, but the soldiers were unharmed.Hezbollah denied anything had happened.In this day and age, everything is filmed. So where is the footage of the infiltrators crossing into Israel? Where is the drone footage of the area at the time of the incident?Hezbollah, as well, must have some footage if something was planned. Whether body cameras on militants or a camera crew filming attacks from afar, Hezbollah always has a camera running.In September, the group released footage of an anti-tank guided-missile (ATGM) attack just a few hours after it took place. Since the alleged Israeli strike last week that killed a Hezbollah fighter, supporters of the group have shared photos of an ATGM launcher alongside a camera.They go hand in hand.Neither side has released anything, and the Israeli public is now questioning whether anything actually happened.
Responding to skepticism that already was emerging Monday evening, Amos Yadlin, former head of IDF Military Intelligence, said he believed the IDF more than Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, who he said is a liar and manipulator.But the IDF does not get off scot-free. It has manipulated events in the past, and journalists and the public are justified to question what happened on Monday.It started with a fateful day in September.The IDF played a never-before card following an attack by Hezbollah against IDF targets near the community of Avivim along the Lebanese border. The Lebanese terrorist group fired three anti-tank guided missiles, one of them almost hitting a military ambulance that had gone against orders and drove down a highway outside the community.It was a delicate ruse that consisted of a media blackout about wounded or dead soldiers and their evacuation by a military helicopter to Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.The IDF also fired some 100 artillery shells at targets in southern Lebanon. Pro-Hezbollah media outlets were quick to celebrate that they had killed soldiers.Two hours later, when the guns went silent and the smoke cleared, the IDF admitted: “Loud and clear, there are no injuries or fatalities to our troops.”Both sides claimed victory. For the IDF, no soldiers were hurt. For Nasrallah, he got his revenge for the deaths of fighters killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike in Syria that targeted an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Hezbollah cell planning to launch attack drones into Israel.But, Nasrallah warned, “Remember this day. This is the start of a new phase.”The next day, in yet another speech, he called the IDF a “Hollywood army” and challenged Israel’s military to perform more shows.“You are a Hollywood army, and we learned a lesson from the show you performed,” Nasrallah said in a speech to mark the Muslim holiday of Ashura. “In future responses, instead of hitting one vehicle, we will hit more, and instead of hitting one target, we will hit more, and let’s see how many Hollywood shows you can perform.”So are there tapes of the incident on Mount Dov on Monday? Or was it another Hollywood show?
