JERUSALEM, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The Lebanese government will be the target of Israeli defense forces should the border situation with Israel deteriorate, the Israeli defense minister said.
Border relations between Israeli and Lebanon soured in 2009. Israel pointed to Hezbollah weapons caches along the border as evidence Shiite militants were preparing for war. Lebanon, for its part, uncovered evidence that suggested Israel was spying on the country illegally.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said if the situation in southern Lebanon escalated, Hezbollah would not be the target of Israeli forces, the entire state of Lebanon would, Hezbollah's al-Manar news station reports.
"We are not looking for a deterioration of the situation in Lebanon, but if there is such an unraveling, our target will not be some Hezbollah somewhere in southern Lebanon," said Barak. "Our target will be the Lebanese government and its infrastructure, whatever that may include."
Israel and Hezbollah fought each other for 34 days in 2006. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which helped broker the cease-fire, calls on Hezbollah to disarm while reminding Israel of its obligation to respect Lebanese sovereignty.
Hezbollah won two Cabinet positions in the new Lebanese government that emerged from June parliamentary elections. A policy embraced in 2009 allows Hezbollah to keep its weapons in the face of an Israeli threat.
Israel said it its justified to maintain a defensive posture to counter an armed Hezbollah.
