In recent weeks, an official Hezbollah statement has publicly condemned Israel's creation of roads in areas near Sheb'a's farms, deeming it a crime and a dangerous violation of Lebanon's sovereignty. In the same communiqué, Hezbollah urges Beirut "to defend its territory, taking the necessary measures to stop the Israeli operation".
The last large-scale armed confrontation between militants of the Lebanese party and Israel dates back to the Second Lebanon War of the 2006, when there were thousands of civilian and military deaths.
The farms in question constitute an agricultural area of 14 blocks located south of Sheb'a, a Lebanese village on the western slopes of Mount Hermon, rich in water and a meeting point between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The area is about 14 km long and 2 km wide, lying between 400 and 2.000 meters high. It is a very fertile area, where wheat, fruit trees and vegetables are grown.
In the recent past, the international press had already highlighted the dispute over water resources that would flow into the area.
Lebanon and Syria argue that the Sheb'a farms would not fall under the jurisdiction of Israel, but based on the United Nations' ruling, they would belong to the Golan region, just to the east. The Golan Heights are areas occupied by Israel during the 1967 war and also maintained following the Second Lebanon War.
Currently Hezbollah makes the liberation of Sheb'a one of its strategic objectives but the dispute over the water needs of local populations, exacerbated by the drying up of the climate, has influenced the policies of the governments of the region for decades.
Both Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories have a low to medium level of renewable water resources; Lebanon and Syria, on the other hand, have surplus water; by 2025 the level of available water for Israel is destined to drop drastically.
For the moment, Tel Aviv is on the Sea of Galilee, the largest freshwater lake in the State of Israel, about 21 km long and 13 wide, with a coastline of 53 km. Its basin, well exploited, would also guarantee the water supply of the coast and the south of the country.
It is easy to imagine that on the subject of water there will be reasons for clashes in the coming years.
We recall that in the sixties Syria and Lebanon started the construction of the Qaraoun dam, indispensable for the use of water for agricultural purposes, an initiative that was subsequently interrupted during the First and Second Lebanon War.
Even considering the strategic factors and the political-military importance that surround the hills around the Sheb'a farms, all that remains is to monitor the events. The American newspaper The Fortune he considered the "Water War" as the main issue of the XNUMXst century.
(Photo: Tsahal)
