Israel: Hizbullah Coup Could Oust UNIFIL, By Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Excerpts;
Israeli defense officials expressed extreme concern Thursday over Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s call for a massive protest Friday to bring down the Lebanese government, warning that UNIFIL might be expelled from Lebanon if Prime Minister Fuad Saniora were forced to leave office.
Hizbullah and its allies in the parliamentary opposition have called for mass demonstrations to begin Friday in downtown Beirut with the aim of bringing down Saniora’s anti-Syrian coalition.
If the shaky government falls, the Israeli defense officials warned, UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army might be forced from southern Lebanon, which, along with the Bekaa Valley, is Hizbullah’s home ground.
“UNIFIL is not the best, but it has been effective so far in preventing Hizbullah from returning to the border,” a high-ranking defense official told The Jerusalem Post Thursday. “If UNIFIL is kicked out of Lebanon, we could easily find ourselves back in the same situation we were in before the war this past summer, or even back at war.”