Jabal Amel brigade gives UNIFIL one month to leave South

BintJbeil.com reported that a group that calls itself "Jabal Amel Brigade" issued a statement calling on the local residents to boycott UNIFIL. The group stressed in the statement that the European Union (EU) decision is a declaration of war on the people of the South and gave UNIFIL a one-month ultimatum to leave Lebanon.

After announcing that "it strongly condemns the Jewish EU decision of blacklisting the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon" and declaring solidarity with its brothers in Hizbullah, the Brigade called for a popular uprising across the South, Bekaa and Beirut’s southern suburbs in front of the European embassies in Lebanon, particularly the French, British and the US "Jewish" embassy which is the nest of conspiracies against the great people of Lebanon.

The Brigade also called to "boycott all European, US and Jewish products and to refrain from dealing with their respective institutions, and to ban them from working in our areas."

In a direct threat, the group said that it gave its elements the orders to get ready and be perfectly prepared to liberate the territories that are "under the occupation" of these forces should they not pull out. The statement said that their presence is an occupation of the southern territories and they will be dealt with on these grounds."

The statement added: "The Brigade calls on the Zionist EU and particularly France, Spain and Italy to take the threats seriously, because we are the kind of people who act if we say we will. We are aware of the number of troops pertaining to them (these countries), the area of their deployment and we have in-depth studies about their movements and the areas of their presence in the southern villages and main towns in Tibnin, Haris, Naqoura and Marjayoun."

The statement also urged the people of these countries to rally and condemn the stances of their leaders as well as their unjust decisions for the sake of preserving the blood of their sons among the troops and officers.


"The only way for the EU to avoid all these dangers is to retract the decision and apologise from the resistance community for depicting them as terrorists," the statement pointed out.

The statement concluded: "The press office of the southern Jabal Amel Brigade wishes to declare that it is not linked in any way to the Islamic Resistance, not at the organisation or the military level, but they have in common one thing that links them together and that is the dignity and pride of the resilient Lebanese people and southerners,"
BintJbeil.org added.

Bintjbeil.org
website said the so-called group has distributed this statement, a copy of which was also sent to their website.

Al Akhbar’s Dany el-Amine wrote that the European Union decision to place Hizbullah on the terror list did not affect the calm prevailing in UNIFIL’s Area of Operations south of the Litani River, where UNIFIL patrols roam the Shiite milieu, totally reassured.

Nothing hints at any potential "terrorist" attack against UNIFIL throughout the south of Litani. A more than normal calm prevails, and the people’s activity is normal. UNIFIL’s patrols roam slowly, as if their drivers are not aware of the seriousness of the decision.

A Spanish peacekeeper greets the passersby as usual. One of them, Mohammad from Adshit al-Qassir, told
Al Akhbar, "We shall salute back whoever salutes us; depicting us as terrorists will not change our peaceful nature. We are not aggressors and we will not attack anyone."

Mohammad added: "Don’t the Europeans hear what their troops here have to say? Are they not more expert in the southern situation and people? Are they not taken into account? Perhaps these troops are like us, their countries do not take into consideration their own fate, and strategic interests are more significant than them."

For her part, university student and farmer Zainab pointed out to
Al Akhbar that UNIFIL troops reduced their patrols in the area, but those who are still conducting patrols are not afraid. "Those who make UNIFIL’s policy do not seem to be as realistic as the troops who have come to know the locals, civilians and military from Hizbullah without seeing the weapons or the military uniform, knowing that they notice everything... They know for certain that we are not terrorists," she added.

Meanwhile, a security source revealed that UNIFIL patrols and movements have been recently reduced, days before the issuance of the EU decision to blacklist Hizbullah. This means, according to the source, that UNIFIL Command took its precautionary measures before the issuance of the decision, based on its political information. As for the troops’ activity following the decision, it has not witnessed any change.

The source added that there was
no aggression or threat of any aggression on UNIFIL, not before or after the European decision. "It does not seem that the locals are headed towards escalation," he stressed.