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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Iranians try to start a border incident between Israel and Lebanon

From The Daily Star
The Lebanese Army in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) removed five trees on the border with Israel upon an Israeli request.

The trees were planted as part of an Iran-funded project to improve the landscape of the southern borders. The Israeli Army had requested that the five trees on the Fatima Gate be cut down, claiming that they touched the wire fence that separated the two borders.

UNIFIL was tasked with convincing the Lebanese troops to cut the trees, media reports said.
It sounds like a normal request by Israel and a normal response by Lebanon, the way things should be.

The more interesting part is where the trees came from. From Ya Libnan:
The Lebanese army and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon went on high alert on noon Tuesday over an Israeli request to cut down five trees planted on Monday by the Iranians as part of aid to Lebanon, according to newspaper reports.

So, after the fatal border ambush involving trees, an Iranian quasi-charity decides to place five full grown trees right on the Lebanese border - in a spot that would upset Israel.

This is reminiscent of Iran's threats to send "aid" boats to Gaza after the Mavi Marmara. Iran is deliberately trying to provoke Israel into violence, and they are keen to repeat any situation that makes Israel look bad.

In more general terms, Iran is acting in a passive-aggressive manner, doing everything they can to create mayhem and then innocently saying, "Don't blame us! We didn't do anything!"