Israel Defense Force and police officials have expressed concern at the increase in the incidence of smuggling, especially of drugs, from Lebanon into Israel since the IDF withdrawal from its northern neighbor a year ago.
Since then, three major smuggling attempts have been foiled and over 8,000 doses of heroin and more than 60 kilograms of hashish have been seized at the border. Large quantities of smuggled property, including video recorders and other electronic equipment, have been found in searches of cars being driven through the border gate near Metullah by Israeli civilians employed in southern Lebanon.
Brigadier General Danny Rothschild, commanding officer of the IDF’s liaison unit with the South Lebanon Army, told Arab affairs reporters Sunday that there had been a considerable increase during the past three months of the Shiite Moslems joining the SLA.
He also noted better cooperation between the Shiite villagers and SLA and Israeli officers responsible for security in the security zone. Rothschild said he thought that members of the Amal militia group now preferred to act against the Palestinian presence in south Lebanon rather than carry out attacks against the SLA and Israeli interests in south Lebanon.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
