ISRAELI UAV FOOTAGE OF EXPLOSION IN LEBANON

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002256

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2019
TAGS: PREL LE SY UN IS
SUBJECT: ISRAELI UAV FOOTAGE OF EXPLOSION IN LEBANON

Classified By: DCM Luis G. Moreno, reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (SBU) On October 13, the Israel Air Force publicly
released video footage taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle
(UAV) shortly following the October 12 explosion of an
apparent arms cache in the Lebanese village of Tayr Filsi.
The IAF UAV footage show Hizballah operatives removing
rockets and other weapons from the site of the explosion,
loading the arms on trucks, and transporting the arms to an
alternate storage site in a nearby village. The UAV footage
also shows the arrival of UNIFIL and Lebanese forces only
after the transfer of the arms from the explosion site. The
UAV footage was featured on Israeli television news
broadcasts the evening of October 13, along with clips from
Lebanese television interviews of local residents.


2. (C) An additional presentation to the DAO by the IDF's
Military-Strategic Information Section noted that the
exploded arms depot was a Hizballah military facility, and
represented yet another "manifestation of ongoing Hizballah
violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, in
particular the prohibition to transfer weapons into Southern
Lebanon." According to the IDF, the explosion took place in
the house of a senior Hizballah member in Tayr Filsi,
approximately 15 km east of Tyre and south of the Litani
River. The IDF notes that Hizballah transferred the weapons
in the exploded arms cache to a storage facility in the
village of Dir Kanoon al-Nahar, located 3 km from Tayr Filsi.


3. (U) Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev filed a
complaint October 13 with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
and the Security Council, noting Hizballah's continued
violation of UNSCR 1701 by storing weapons south of the
Litani River while using civilians as human shields to
conceal the arms. She noted that "... weapons are being
transferred, and now an arms depot has blown up in the heart
of a village." Referencing the UAV footage, Shalev stated
the evidence proves what the GOI has "been saying
repeatedly." According to Israeli press reports, Shalev
accused Lebanese army officials of deliberately ignoring
Hizballah's attempts to build infrastructure south of the
Litani River, and demanded UNIFIL launch an immediate
investigation.


4. (U) In interviews with the Israeli press, Israeli
President Shimon Peres stated that Hizballah is "turning
Lebanon into a powder keg," and that Hizballah -- and not
Israel -- is "endangering the Lebanese, just as Hamas
endangers the Palestinian people." Minister Benny Begin
pointed to Lebanon's inability to form a government four
months after the June elections as one reason why Hizballah
continues to hold a veto power while successfully rearming.
He asserted that due to the failure to enforce UNSCR 1701,
Hizballah now has a stockpile of 40,000 rockets and missiles
supplied by Iran through Syria. Begin pointed to Iranian
patronage of Hizballah via Syria, and suggested Saudi Arabia
may be deferring to Syria on Lebanon following Saudi King
Abdullah's visit to Damascus.

CUNNINGHAM