Israeli troops open fire on Lebanese Army and back al-Nusrah infiltration of Lebanon

One Lebanese soldier was injured when an Israeli patrol, on Sunday, opened fire on a Lebanese Army post. The cross demarcation line shooting incident occurred in the Sheeba Farms area which in part has been occupied by Israel. Israel is known for having used the area as staging ground for the infiltration of Jabhat al-Nusrah and other al-Qaeda-linked brigades into Lebanon.

The area is monitored by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). A UNIFIL official stated that UNIFIL could not yet issue any detailed statement about the situation as they are investigating the incident. Lebanese Army spokesperson told that he had to speak on condition of anonymity because he had not been officially authorized to issue any statement. He confirmed, however, that Israeli troops had opened fire at the Lebanese Army post, injuring one Lebanese soldier. The commander of the Lebanese Army post reportedly called on the Army High Command to send reinforcements, including armored vehicles, so as to protect the Lebanese soldiers who are patrolling the area.

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UNIFIL Mandate Area and Sheeba farms. The Sheeba Farms and the Hermoun Mountain Range allow artillery control over the Lebanese Bekaa Valley and the infiltration of Jabhat al-Nusrah and other mercenary brigades into Lebanon and Syria.

Israeli military officials and media, for their part, presented the incident as if the Israeli troops has successfully prevented an attempt to infiltrate Israel, alleging that the infiltrators fled back to Lebanese controlled territory after Israeli troops opened fire on them, injuring one. The Israeli statements were vague, and did not tell whether the alleged "infiltrators" were civilians, members of any militia, or Lebanese soldiers. Israeli media, such as , insinuate that the Israeli Army prevented that "a Hezbollah" or other "terrorist cell" infiltrated Israel.

The Sheeba Farms are Lebanese territory which Israel kept occupied after its withdrawal from Lebanon on May 25, 2000. The area is located on the southwestern territory of the Hermon mountain range and is located, bordering the Syrian Golan Heights which Israel occupied in 1967, and which Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in 2013, declared as part and parcel with Israel, adding that the international community ought to accept that Israel annexed the Golan. The Lebanese side of the Sheeba Farm area is both defended by the Lebanese Army and by Hezbollah, and it is patrolled by UNIFIL. Control over the Hermoun mountain range is of great strategic importance with regard to control over the Bekaa Valley.

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The UNDOF withdrawal leaves a 12 – 16 km wide corridor uncontrolled by the UNDOF. In 2013 it transpired that Israel is providing support for Jabhat al-Nusrah, which includes a joint intelligence and military operations room in the Israeli occupied Golan, logistic support, weapons, field hospitals, and direct combat support. (Map plotting by Christof Lehmann) Click on map to view full size

While the Israeli military describes the cross-border shooting of a soldier of the Lebanese National Army as having foiled the infiltration of Israel by "terrorists", it is actively supporting the al-Qaeda linked Jabhat al-Nusrah in the fight against the Syrian Arab Army and in the fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon. In September 2014 the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) vacated a 16 - 20 km wide corridor which now is freely used by Jabhat al-Nusrah and other Israeli, Saudi, Qatari and core NATO member States-backed mercenary brigades, allowing them freedom of movement in launching attacks against Syria and a quasi safe-haven.

The Israeli occupied Syrian Golan have, according to a Palestinian/Syrian intelligence expert who is consulting for nsnbc also been used as staging theater for Al-Nusrah brigades' attacks against Hezbollah via the Sheeba Farm area. In June 2013, Austria withdrew the troops it had dispatched under the UNDOF mandate. An Austrian UNDOF officer stated, on condition of anonymity, that the withdrawal in part was due to Israel's state-sponsorship of terrorism. The Austrian officer confirmed what intelligence analysts had stated since early 2012, which is that Israel maintains a joint intelligence and operations room with Jabhat al-Nusrah and other terrorist brigades in the Golan, and that Israeli troops are directly involved in combat operations against the Syrian Arab Army from the Golan.

In October 2013, Jabhat al-Nusrah, Liwa-al-Islam and other foreign-backed, Al-Qaeda-linked mercenary brigades used the Israeli occupied Golan and the Israeli occupied Sheeba Farms as staging theater for infiltrating about 40,000 fighters into Lebanon in preparation of a major attack against the Qalamoun region and Damascus. On Monday, October 13, the Chairman of the Lebanese Arab Democratic Party, Rifaat Eid, stressed that Saudi Arabia threatened "to burn Lebanon if Hezbollah intervened in the battle for the Qalamoun region".

While many analysts describe the cross-border shooting incident as comparable with , there are others who stress that any episode in the Sheeba Farm area and the Golan has the potential to ignite the fuse that could explode a major conflict between Israel and Lebanon.