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INCREDIBLE footage captured the moment Israeli troops raised their flags at Hezbollah’s warped “Iran Garden” theme park after “occupying” parts of Southern Lebanon.
The unlikely tourist spot filled with war tanks and gravestones was built to indoctrinate children and tourists with hatred for Israel.
The moment Israeli troops raised flags at the destroyed site of a Hezbollah theme park
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Phil Hannaford - The Sun
Phil Hannaford - The Sun
While most theme parks would have rides and games, this landmark of resistance had tanks, rockets, barbed wire, and guns.
Those who visited the area found replica war scenes complete with destroyed Israeli tanks and toppled gravestones.
Large Hebrew letters spelt out “The Abyss” and “The Swamp” in stone, meant as taunts directed at Israel.
Archive video footage played at the site showed a timeline of Hezbollah’s rise to prominence, as well as its grievances with and victories against Israel.
Children and other tourists could play at aiming anti-aircraft guns, climb overturned armoured personnel carriers, and wander through a Hezbollah bunker and 200-metre-long tunnel used during the Second Lebanon War.
A walk through the forest where Hezbollah guerrillas waged their war just four years before the tourist park opened features real weaponry and artefacts, from strewn soldiers’ helmets containing real human hair to burnt clothing with Hebrew inscriptions.
It is understood the Israeli military destroyed the warped theme park after it launched its ongoing invasion of Lebanon.
Israeli minister Eli Cohen explicitly said that the military had “occupied” the Southern Lebanese Village of Maroun al-Ras.
He wrote on X/Twitter: “The heroic IDF fighters occupied Marun al-Ras today, and destroyed the houses from which Hezbollah launched anti-tank missiles at the citizens of Israel.
“We will reach every place from where they try to hurt us, and to every person who tries to hurt us.”
The £3.2million theme park was built on the remains of a former Israeli settlement near the Lebanese village of Mleeta to promote its ideology, or what it calls “resistance tourism”.
The site was also called the “Iran Garden” because of the funding it received from the Iranian regime.
It also had a statue of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the IRGC Quds Force who was assassinated in 2020, pointing towards Israel.
It was also once an important base for Hezbollah fighters.
The terrorist group reportedly had plans to expand the park’s visitor facilities with swimming pools, spas, playgrounds, a five-star hotel, and a campsite so people “can come here and spend their vacations”.
More than half a million people visited the tourist attraction in the months that followed its opening.
Phil Hannaford - The Sun
AFP
Getty 
Phil Hannaford - The Sun
GettyMIDDLE EAST ON FIRE
Israel launched their ground offensive into Lebanon last week as they continue to look to eliminate Iran-backed terror group Hezbollah from the Middle East.
The IDF said it began “limited” and “localised” ground raids against Hezbollah terrorist targets in southern Lebanon.
Thousands of civilians have already fled the country’s south as the showdown between Hezbollah and Israel intensifies.
The Israel Defense Forces has now poured more troops into Lebanon – deploying a fourth division.
Its 146th Reserve Division has joined three standing army divisions – the 98th, 36th, and 91st – already operating in the south.
Israel now has a likely 15,000-strong army in Lebanon.
The focus of the operation is clearing out Hezbollah terror sites to halt rocket attacks which have driven 60,000 from homes in Northern Israel in the last 11 months.
It claimed actions there would remain “limited and localised”.
Israel has killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a series of massive aircraft strikes that rocked Lebanon.
Following Nasrallah’s death, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – one of his closest allies – ordered a massive air blitz that saw more than 180 ballistic missiles attacking Israel.
Khamenei said Lebanon would make Israel “regret their actions” and blasted the “shortsighted and foolish” policies of Israeli leaders.
He claimed Israel was “too small” to cause any damage to Hezbollah.
Israel is now said to be preparing a revenge blitz for a tit-for-tat attack that could push the Middle East into a wider all-out war.
Benjamin Netanyahu has promised Iran would pay for that missile attack, while Tehran said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction.
The Israeli PM is expected to speak to US President Joe Biden to discuss any plans Israel may have to strike back at Iran.
Experts speculate that Israel could choose to strike either IRGC military locations and Iranian oil fields – which could cripple Iran’s sanction-hit economy – or target Iran’s secret nuclear bases.
The latter could see the regional conflict turn into a devastating war with mass casualties and destruction on both sides.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah’s acting leader issued a chilling warning to Israel from inside a hidden bunker – vowing to furiously fight on.
Naim Qassem, 71, gave a television address from inside war-torn Lebanon as the biggest-ever rocket blitz from the terror group rained down on an Israeli city.
The stand-in boss Qassem defiantly said the terror group is still intact despite Israel dealing “powerful blows” in recent weeks.
He said: “The party’s leadership and the resistance [Hezbollah] are meticulously organised.
“We have overcome painful blows.
“We are firing hundreds of rockets and dozens of drones. A large number of settlements and cities are under the fire of the resistance.
“Our capabilities are fine and our fighters are deployed along the front lines.”
The acting chief also said there are “no vacant posts” in Hezbollah’s leadership as he appeared to speak from a secret underground bunker.
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