CBNNews.com - MOUNT DOV, Israel - The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is keeping close tabs on construction on the Lebanese side of the Mount Dov/Shaba Farms area.

For the first time since the IDF's troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is constructing military posts in the area, after having paved a road there.

Mount Dov, also known as Shaba Farms, is a 7.72-square mile, mountainous area on Israel's northeast border with Lebanon.Israel captured the area -- essentially part of the Golan Heights -- from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War, annexing it in 1981.

The Lebanese-based Hezbollah terror organization, now an official part of the Lebanese unity government under newly elected President Michel Suleiman, claims the land belongs to Lebanon.

The newly paved road lies just 300 meters (less than .2 of a mile) from Israel's border.

"In the event of a war with Israel, LAF positions could be used by Hezbollah, since many of them are situated where Hezbollah outposts used to be," one senior Israeli official said.

On Sunday, Suleiman, speaking to reporters in Paris, where he attended the Mediterranean Union summit sponsored by French President Nicholas Sarkozy, said that if Israel did not return Mt. Dov to Lebanon, the LAF will take it by force.

Suleiman, who made his remarks after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, said the military option was the last resort if diplomacy failed.

Source: The Jerusalem Post