Lebanon water project puts Israel military on alert

TEL AVIV — Lebanon has accelerated a project to divert a major river along the southern border that supplies a quarter of Israel's water needs, Israeli sources said.

The acceleration has prompted a military alert as Israeli officials are concerned that the Hizbullah is preparing to exploit the latest crisis with Lebanon.

The sources said Lebanon has brought electricity pylons and other heavy equipment to establish what they term a major pumping facility to divert water from the Hasbani River. The river flows through southern Lebanon into Israel.

"From our point of view, it's do or die," Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Avigdor Lieberman said. "We can't allow this matter to pass."

Military and intelligence sources said the Lebanese project to divert water from the Hasbani river is meant to escalate tension with Israel and push the Jewish state into a military offensive. This, the sources said, would serve as a pretext for a massive Hizbullah rocket attack against northern Israeli communities.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been briefed on the Lebanese project. Officials said Sharon has decided to maintain military restraint and instead urge the United Nations to stop the project. Sharon has also sent warnings to Lebanon and Syria.

So far, UN representatives monitoring the project said the Lebanese pumping is meant to fill local water needs. A similar assertion was made by Lebanese sources.

But Israeli officials maintain that the amount and type of equipment demonstrate a major project. They said Lebanon wants to first establish the principle that it can pump water from the Hasbani before Beirut expands the project.

For years, Israel has been supplying water to Lebanese border villages to prevent any diversion of the Hasbani. But this has angered Hizbullah, which has accused the government in Beirut of dealing with the Jewish state.

"This is a test of Sharon," parliamentarian Michael Kleiner, a member of Sharon's coalition government, said. "We have to respond quickly and forcefully."