Israel, Hezbollah signal their flare-up is over

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Israel, Hezbollah signal their flare-up is over

BY DAN WILLIAMS AND LAILA BASSAM
JERUSALEM/BEIRUT Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:26am EST

Reuters) - Israel and Hezbollah signaled on Thursday their rare flare-up in fighting across the Israel-Lebanon border was over, after the Lebanese guerrillas killed two Israeli troops in retaliation for a deadly air strike in Syria last week.

Israel said it had received a message from UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, that Hezbollah was not interested in further escalation.

In Beirut, a Lebanese source briefed on the situation told Reuters that Israel informed Hezbollah via UNIFIL "that it will make do with what happened yesterday and it does not want the battle to expand".

Asked on Israel's Army Radio whether Hezbollah had sought to de-escalate, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said: "There are lines of coordination between us and Lebanon via UNIFIL and such a message was indeed received from Lebanon."

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/29/us-mideast-israel-lebanon-idUSKBN0L10XD20150129

[Jefferson23]

1. Good. n/t

[Peter Rollins]

2. I don't buy it.

The reporter is reading too deep into what he calls "signals." I cannot remember a case where Israel let Hezbollah have the last word. Even though Israel had the first word killing 12, and Hezbollah killed only 2, I just don't believe Israel will let it end this way.