26/10/2009 Israeli daily Haaretz revealed on Monday that Israel informed the United Nations that it will continue its spying activities in Southern Lebanon after the United Nations has asked the Zionist entity for clarifications on "listening devices" that were uncovered near the village of Hula in southern Lebanon last week. The request was made following an official Lebanese petition to the UN.

According to Haaretz, Israel neither denied nor confirmed that it had placed intelligence-gathering equipment in the area, but informed the UN that "collecting intelligence" in southern Lebanon, in reference to spying, will continue "as long as the government in Beirut is not in full control of its territory."

Last Wednesday, a tripartite meeting was held at the UNIFIL base near the Rosh Hanikra border crossing between representatives of Israel, Lebanon and the UN regarding recent tensions in the area. Lebanon claimed, according to foreign press reports, that it had uncovered monitoring devices planted by Israel on its soil.

The UN peacekeeping force was represented by the force commander, Major General Claudio Graziano, while Lebanon was represented by the commander of the Lebanese Army's liaison unit and Israel was represented by the head of the Strategic Branch in the Planning Department at the General Staff, Brigadier Yossi Hayman.

Haaretz quoted a western diplomat as saying that one of the main issues discussed during the meeting was the exposure of the listening devices. The UNIFIL commander and the Lebanese officer asked for details on the listening equipment. The UN officers said that the equipment appeared to have been put in place during the 2006 July War against Lebanon, but the Lebanese officer insisted that the equipment appeared to be more up-to-date. "It seems that something new was put in place recently," the Lebanese representative argued.

The western diplomat said that Hayman did not deny that the equipment was Israeli listening devices, and did not respond directly to the questions asked by his interlocutors. However, he did stress that Israel will make use of its intelligence gathering capabilities so long as Hezbollah pose what he called a threat. "Israel will continue to use all means necessary to defend its citizens," Hayman was quoted as claiming.

He said that the exposure of the listening devices should be evaluated "in the broadest sense" and in light of the situation in southern Lebanon. "In view of all this we do not consider this instance as an Israeli violation of Resolution 1701," Hayman went on to claim.

http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=108642&language=en

27/10/2009 Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared on Tuesday that his army was ready for any military confrontation that might erupt from the Lebanese front, claiming that his entity is prepared to deal with any possible scenario, including the possibility of a new confrontation.

According to Israeli daily Haaretz, Barak praised during his visit to the northern region near the Lebanese borders what he called the "quiet" at the northern front. "We lived very hard moments during the July War," Barak recalled, hoping that the "calm situation" will continue because it's in everybody's interest.

"I hope and believe that we will be able to maintain quiet, but I stand behind my telling you that we are ready for any other scenario, including one of us being put to a test again," Barak said.

The Israeli Defense Minister stated there had been "nine years of quiet, after dozens of years of fire, and even those nine years contained a few very painful weeks of the Second Lebanon War."

"I was happy to see the breadth of preparedness and the emergency infrastructures in Kiryat Shmona today, and there is no room for comparison with the situation in 2006. I also took note of the things lacking, especially in the field of bomb-shelter maintenance," Barak said.

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27/10/2009 Israeli occupation army fired seven artillery shells at the Wadi Slouki region, near the town of Houla in south Lebanon. News agencies reported a Katyusha rocket had been fired earlier from the same bombed region targeting an open area in the Israeli settlement of Keryat Shmona without causing injuries.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the Katyusha launch. UNIFL troops and the Lebanese army cut off the road leading to Hula and were searching the area. According to Israeli media outlets, Israeli security sources estimate that the rocket was not fired by Hezbollah, but rather by a small Palestinian organization. Haaretz quoted an Israeli occupation army spokesman as saying that the military holds Lebanon responsibility for the Katysha launch.

Just hours before the incident, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned during a tour in the northern occupied region, that Israel was preparing itself for a possible new confrontation with Lebanon. "We have nine years of quiet in the north that were interrupted for a number of painful weeks for the Second Lebanon War," the defense minister said. "We are preparing for all other possibilities, including the possibility that they will subject the towns of the north to another test."

http://www.almanar.com.lb/newssite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=108871&language=en