The head of Israel's water authority called on the government Wednesday to stop alleged attempts by Lebanon to divert a key river to stop it flowing into Israel, said AFP.
An Israeli military source accused Lebanon Tuesday of trying to change the course of the Hasbani, one of three tributaries to the Jordan river which feeds the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main source of fresh water.
The source, who declined to be identified, told AFP that the Lebanese had started building a pumping system on their side of the border "to stop the Hasbani flowing into Israel."
"It is very serious and we will react to that," the source said.
Uri Saguy, head of the national water company Merokot and a former military intelligence chief, told public radio, "the pumping is illegal and I hope that Israel will defend its interests. We have the means to do it."
Saguy refused to say if he was recommending military action by Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for 22 years until pulling out last May, according to the agency.
But he added, "Water is a strategic asset, which concerns our security."
Saguy said Lake Tiberius was short of four million cubic feet (140 million cubic feet) of water, "and we don't know how we are going to meet the needs of agriculture and industry this year."
An agriculture ministry official, Shimon Pat, was quoted by the agency as telling the radio the Hasbani accounted for between 20 and 25 percent of the water flowing into the lake, and any diversion or upstream extraction would have a significant impact.
Scarce water resources are a key factor in resolving Israel's stormy relations with its neighbors, including Syria and the Palestinians.
In another development, Israel’s Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer called on the Lebanese government Tuesday to deploy its troops in south Lebanon, reported Haaretz newspaper.
On his first visit to northern Israel since taking the helm of the ministry, Ben-Eliezer said that Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, "would do wise to send the Lebanese army to the south as he promised, as soon as possible. He would be doing his people and his country a favor. Syria should do the same." – Albawaba.com
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