Sheba (Sheba'a) Farms

   An area of about 24 square miles located near Mount Dov on the slopes of Mount Hermon near the border between the Golan Heights and Lebanon. When the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000 to the Blue Line, it was formally recognized by the United Nations (UN) that Israel had withdrawn fully from Lebanon under the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 (1978). Nevertheless, Hezbollah turned the issue of Sheba Farms into the main pretext for remaining armed and attacking Israel, claiming that it was Lebanese not Syrian territory, despite the fact that the UN and the international community has recognized the area as belonging to the Syrian Golan Heights that was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 (thereby making it subject to Syrian-Israeli rather than Lebanese-Israeli negotiations). The area is not historically or geographically unique and cannot be exactly delineated but lies between the Blue Line and Nahal Sion. The Alawi village of Ghajar is in the area.

   On 7 October 2000, Hezbollah kidnapped three IDF soldiers from their posts at Sheba Farms. It has been the site of other Hezbollah terrorist attacks and Katyusha rocket fire. It remained a pretext for Hezbollah to remain armed despite the requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 425 and subsequent agreements that called for the disarming of Lebanese militias. After the Second Lebanon War (2006), Israeli withdrawal from the area became a major point in the subsequent diplomacy to end the hostilities.

   See also Arab-Israeli Conflict.