Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is important to emphasise that southern Lebanon has been one of the safest places in the Middle East for the past 12 months. As Hezbollah has been heavily involved in the civil war in Syria, there has not been the friction and the activities that we saw a number of years ago in southern Lebanon and Israel. However, that changed this morning, but the briefing material I have received suggests it may have been in retaliation for what happened on the Golan Heights last week, as opposed to a general escalation of tension between Hezbollah and Israel. I hope that is the case and that we will not see a further escalation, but we will have to wait and see.