In some curious reporting, Agence France Presse stated Dec. 15 (“France steps us Mideast effort with FM’s Lebanon trip“): “Hezbollah meanwhile says it has no visible border presence in the border region” north of Israel.
This is a bizarre claim in light of the fact that a quick perusal of Hezbollah’s Telegram account reveals that the terror organization regularly boasts of attacks it carries out in the border area.
For instance, in this Telegram post (video appears below) published the same day as the AFP report, Hezbollah claims responsibility for multiple attacks in northern Israel.
And, in the graphic below, Hezbollah takes credit for the following border attacks from Oct. 8 to Dec. 14:
The Arabic reads: Number of operations: 509
Number of sites and barracks: 58
Anti-aircraft: 20
Direct [i.e., short-range] weapon: 14
Guided [fire]: 209
Airstrikes: 9
Artillery: 131
Sniper Fire: 48
Missile Strikes: 43
Burkans: 35
Notably, both the French and Arabic versions of this article provide additional information making clear that Hezbollah’s claim is not credible:
Le Hezbollah réplique qu’il n’a pas de présence visible dans la zone frontalière, d’où ses combattants et ceux de formations alliées lancent des attaques contre les positions israéliennes. [Emphasis added.]
The bolded text appears in both the French and Arabic stories but is absent from the parallel English report (CAMERA’s translation): “Hezbollah maintains that it has no visible presence in the border area where its fighters and those of allied forces launch attacks against Israeli positions.”
The additional information, which appears in French and Arabic, makes clear that Hezbollah’s claim about its lack of “visible presence” is meaningless.
With translations by CAMERA Arabic.