Lebanese army fires on Israeli warplanes

Anti-aircraft guns open fire on two Israeli fighter planes violating Lebanese air space.

BEIRUT - Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on two Israeli warplanes that were violating its airspace at medium altitude on Sunday, the military said.

"The army's anti-aircraft guns fired at two Israeli warplanes overflying Hasbaya" in southeastern Lebanon, an army statement said.

The incident came amid rising regional tension and heightened concern in Lebanon over recent Israeli threats against Hezbollah.

The army publishes almost daily reports of Israeli violations of Lebanese air space. But it rarely opens fire unless the Israeli planes fly within range of its guns.

Israeli infringements of Lebanese airspace are a breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended the devastating 2006 war between Israel and resistance group Hezbollah.

The war claimed the lives of more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Hezbollah, originally a resistance group formed to counter an Israeli occupation of south Lebanon, had forced the Israeli military out of Lebanon in 2000. Israel, however, continues to occupy the Lebanese Shabaa Farms.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=37956.