Israel has continued flights over southern Lebanon in order to monitor Hizbullah terrorist operations in the area where the United Nations forces were mandated to disarm the terrorist organization after the Second Lebanon War in 2006. At the outset of the ceasefire agreement, U.N. commanders said they could not implement the agreement, and Israel has tried to fill the breach in security although the flights technically are violations of the ceasefire.
Sunday's anti-aircraft firing came amidst an escalation in rhetoric by Israel and the Syrian-Hizbullah-Lebanese axis as well as increased weapons smuggling into Lebanon. “War in Lebanon is discussed everyday on almost every street corner,” CNN reported Sunday.
Prime Minister Saad Hariri told the BBC last week that Israeli military activity is "really dangerous,” noting that surveillance planes have entered Lebanese airspace “every day" during the past two months. Israel has repeatedly accused Lebanon of a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement by allowing Hizbullah to smuggle more missiles into southern as well as northern Lebanon.
Sunday marked the fifth year since former anti-Syrian leader and prime minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated, and Syria has widely been held responsible for the murder. His son Saad Hariri now is at the helm of the Lebanese government but unlike his father, he has established friendly relations with Damascus. He also incorporated Hizbullah into a part of his government and military planning.
In addition to friendly meetings between Hariri and Syrian President Bashar Assad, Khaled Mashaal, Damascus-based commander of Hamas, recently met with Hizbullah's number one leader, Hassan Nasrallah, placing two of the world's top terrorists in the same room. Hariri has described Hizbullah as “the resistance.”