Lebanese baby named Avivim after Israeli community targeted by Hezbollah

‘This name has a clear goal, the Israeli enemy knows what we mean,’ father says following missile attack that narrowly missed IDF vehicle

A Lebanese couple has named their newborn daughter after a community in northern Israel that was the site of an attack Sunday by the Hezbollah terror group, local media reported Tuesday.

The baby was born a few hours after an anti-tank missile was fired toward an Israeli military vehicle near the community of Avivim, missing it by several meters.

Though the Israel Defense Forces has said no soldiers were injured in the incident and there has been no information indicating otherwise, Hezbollah maintains that there were casualties and has celebrated the act as a “victory.”

Lebanese television network Al Jadeed reported Tuesday that the baby was called “Avivim,” adding that “Avivim’s father did not hesitate before giving his daughter a Hebrew name since it reminds him every day of the resistance’s promise.”

“We were going to call her Riman, but because of this event we called her Avivim,” said the father, who was not identified by name in the report.

“This name has a clear goal, the Israeli enemy knows what we mean by ‘Avivim,’ it knows what that means for it,” he continued.

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The father said he could name more babies after Hebrew words commemorating alleged Hezbollah successes, listing as examples “Dovev,” “Tzabar” and “Netanya.”

Dovev is a small community in northern Israel that was evacuated during the First Lebanon War in 1982. Four Katyusha rockets landed at the time on its outskirts.

Tzabar is an IDF battalion belonging to the Givati Brigade. Its commander Shmuel Adiv was killed in 1988 in a gunfight with Hezbollah fighters.

Netanya is a city in central Israel, north of Tel Aviv. During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah threatened to launch rockets that would reach Netanya, though that did not happen.

Asked why he doesn’t have a problem with Hebrew names, Avivim’s father said: “I don’t have a problem with them if they have a certain purpose that reinforces victory and reminds us of a very good event.

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“Every time I call Avivim I will be reminded of the promise by Sayyed Nasrallah. If he promises, he delivers,” he added, presumably referring to the Hezbollah chief’s promise to retaliate for an Israeli strike last week in Syria that killed two Hezbollah members, as well as for a separate drone strike on a Hezbollah center in Beirut blamed on the Jewish state.

Hebrew-language media reports said that an IDF medical vehicle carrying five soldiers nearly sustained a direct hit from Hezbollah anti-tank fire during Sunday’s attack along the northern border, as it drove along an unprotected road in an apparent breach of army directives.

https://twitter.com/netasisso1/status/1168629516870270976

The reports aligned with footage released by Hezbollah-affiliated TV on Monday and with Israeli security camera footage that was published shortly thereafter. That footage showed two anti-tank missiles apparently narrowly missing the IDF vehicle on the road between Avivim and Kibbutz Yir’on near the northern border.

Pictures and videos showing injured soldiers being evacuated via helicopter from the scene had been a ploy meant to trick Hezbollah into thinking it had caused casualties, Israeli sources said.