18/08/2007 Primary investigations into attacks against UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon pointed to the responsibility of fundamental organizations close to Al-Qaeda network. However Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah's recent hypothesis focused on the Israeli stance towards the blue helmets, especially when taking into consideration the strained relation between Israel and Spain which is part of the UNIFIL force operating in south Lebanon. Spanish security forces had confiscated an arms shipment in a Spanish port, coming from the port of Haifa last July and heading to "an unknown country."
When all sides agreed to consolidate UNIFIL forces in south Lebanon, Israel and the US understood that this was a diplomatic and "security" victory for them that would see Hezbollah face 15 thousand international soldiers. "But a year on, UNIFIL still finds itself under threat, not from the Hezbollah, but from suspected radical Sunni militants possibly inspired by Al Qaeda, according to an article by US journalist Nicholas Blanford published in the Christian Science Monitor last month. Blanford said in his article titled "In Lebanon, UNIFIL and Hezbollah make unlikely bedfellows", that the UNIFIL began receiving increased intelligence warnings of potential attacks by Al Qaeda-inspired militants especially after Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al Qaeda's number two, twice referred to UNIFIL in video-taped messages, describing the UN forces as "international crusader forces." "According to UNIFIL sources, intelligence agents from Italy, France, and Spain met with Hezbollah representatives in April. As a result, some Spanish peacekeepers subsequently were "escorted" on some of their patrols by Hezbollah members in civilian vehicles, the UNIFIL sources say," said Blanford's report.
Tel Aviv does not seem content about this coordination, neither about the Spanish role in south Lebanon, knowing that the course of Israeli-Spanish ties is taking a tottering trend. According to the Israelis, "hate" is what's ruling ties between both countries. The first sign of "political repulsion" between Israel and Spain appeared in the wake of the bombing that claimed the lives of six soldiers from the Spanish contingent operating in south Lebanon. The unit had sought assistance from Hezbollah to find the perpetrators. From an Israeli point of view, the security "coordination" with Hezbollah is enough to have strained relations with any country, but in the case of Spain, there is more than one reason. On the fourth of last July, Spanish security forces seized, in a local port, a weapons shipment coming from the Israeli port of Haifa, with more than a thousand pieces of weaponry as well as 500 compressed air rifles. What's interesting in this story is that the crew claimed, prior to frisking the ship, that the shipment only includes 500 rifles and that Nicaragua was the ship's final destination. However the ship continued its voyage towards Italy, after it was destined to unload the shipment into another ship in the Spanish port and then press forward to "some country." Israeli authorities did not comment on the incident, and said it would open an investigation to find out how information were leaked to a foreign state, like Spain. The essence is that Madrid had known about the weapons shipment through an Israeli leak, based on rivalry between arms traders. Spanish authorities ordered the shipment to move into a US inspection plant at the port, a step Israel put in the framework of damaging their ties with the United States, because official documents presented by the crew confirmed that the ship's final destination was Nicaragua, the home of anti-US President Daniel Ortega.
Thus, Tel Aviv concluded that Spain hates "the state of Israel."
This sentiment was consolidated by the repercussions of the death of the soldiers working with the Spanish contingent in south Lebanon, before the Israeli "slip" at the southern Spanish port.
So, instead of pointing the finger of blame at Hezbollah, as Israel had desired, Madrid found itself obliged, for factual circumstances and field information, to coordinate with Hezbollah. Israel was not pleased. Reports said that Tel Aviv dismissed Madrid's move as a "security deal" that would necessitate Hezbollah's cooperation in giving information about suspected activities in the area of operation of the Spanish contingent, in return for Spanish leniency as to Hezbollah's activity in the south. There was no diplomatic response to the Israeli implicit accusation; however sources in the foreign ministry in Madrid confirmed that several meetings had taken place between Italian, French and Spanish blue helmets with Hezbollah, adding that Madrid has no interest in "besieging" Hezbollah. The "unannounced" crisis between Spain and Israel goes far beyond a temporary tension. Past experiences show that Israel does not tolerate hindering its plans, even by a neutral side; the body parts of UN soldiers from the Gana contingent in the southern village of Qana remain a witness to the Israeli hatred to the international legitimacy.