The Lebanese border deaths: who benefits?

When the smoke of the shooting dispersed a bit and the details started to emerge, the picture became clear quite soon.

• IDF had informed UNIFIL about the maintenance work to be performed in the enclave, which is a part of Israeli territory, albeit beyond the fence.
• According to the UNIFIL official, the information was passed on to the Lebanese Army.
• Lebanese sniper didn't target the maintenance detail that entered the enclave but shot at the IDF officers located at a lookout post about 100 meters away.

From these and other details (such as "timely" presence of a Lebanese journalist at the army position) emerges an ugly picture of premeditated ambush. Somebody is interested in heating up the border, and it doesn't take a lot of guessing to see the villain.

With the impending verdict of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which looks at Hezbollah as the guilty party, both Hezbollah and its Damascus and Tehran handlers are desperately looking for anything that will deflect the attention of Lebanese people from this hot potato. And there is nothing better than invoke the image of the bloodthirsty Zionist enemy in the South - the card Nasrallah is pulling out every time his political aspirations are threatened. Nasrallah is quite desperate, judging by his latest pathetic attempt to blame Israel in assassination of Hariri.

Lebanese army is infested by Hezbollah sympathizers and members, and to find an officer that will order his soldiers to shoot at Israeli side is never a problem for Hezbollah. And so far the ploy worked, with Lebanon government issuing indignant protests and claims of innocence, while Hezbollah on the sidelines stresses its vital role as the "resistance" force and deliverers.

Will the ploy work for Hezbollah at the end of the day? We'll see.

Meanwhile, Barry Rubin on coverage of the incident by some media in Today's Example of Ridiculous Media Bias Against Israel.

Cross-posted on Yourish.com