In the press
The pictures of bloodied soldiers lying on stretchers that have been broadcast in the Lebanese press are "staged" Israeli, as part of the ongoing psychological warfare with the Shiite party, according to the Jerusalem Post and Yediyot Aharonot.
Following Hezbollah's strike on Sunday touching an Israeli "military vehicle", contradictory information circulated for a moment about possible Israeli casualties.
At first, the Shiite party and some Lebanese media reported that the strike had killed Israelis. In fact, photos began to circulate, on social media and rebroadcast by Lebanese media, including al-Manar, a Hezbollah affiliate, showing bloodied soldiers lying on stretchers. For several hours, the Israeli authorities have not communicated anything about it. Then, in the evening, fell an Israeli denial: the strike had not made any victim.
On Monday, two Israeli newspapers, the Jerusalem Post and Yediot Aharnot, reported that the management of this part of the case, was, in fact, part of a strategy of "psychological warfare". And the images broadcast of wounded soldiers were part of a staged thought and orchestrated by the Israeli army. It was "a lure", according to these media.
"The Israel Defense Forces have been preparing for Hezbollah's attack since the strikes in Syria last Saturday and planned a decoy," reports JPost. Several minutes after the Shiite anti-tank missile struck, soldiers with bandages and fake blood were transported by helicopter to a hospital in Haifa, the newspaper said on its website, referring to dramatic scenes reminiscent of past Israeli wars and operations. "
According to Yediyot Aharonot, the Israeli military command purposely did not publish a communiqué directly about the Hezbollah attack in order to maintain the vagueness of the situation, a strategy falling within the framework of the "psychological warfare" between the two. parts. "Hezbollah has taken the hook and said it was a success," the Israeli newspaper said, adding a picture of a "soldier-like mannequin" in a military vehicle.
AFP / Gil NEHUSHTAN
"Confuse Hezbollah"
"It was not the purpose of the army that all this is known, it had to remain in a sort of fog (…) in order to confuse Hezbollah", commented to AFP an Israeli general at the retirement requiring anonymity.
Hezbollah said on Sunday in the middle of the afternoon that it "destroyed" an Israeli army "military vehicle" near the border in northern Israel, killing four people. According to a source close to Hezbollah, this was a "response" to an Israeli strike that killed two members of the Shiite formation on August 24 in Syria. It resulted in Israeli bombings against southern Lebanon, before a return to calm. In the evening, the Israeli military command denied the Shiite party's death toll.
The exchange of fire came amid mounting tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which last week also accused the Jewish state of conducting drone strikes on its bastion in the southern suburbs of Beirut. On Monday morning, the situation was calm again along the border.
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