TYRE (Lebanon), Feb 4: Lebanon’s radical Hezbollah group said it had opened fire on Monday at Israeli warplanes violating the country’s airspace in the south for the third time in five days.
In Israel, the army and witnesses also confirmed Hezbollah’s anti-aircraft guns had fired at Israeli jet fighters flying over the region, while a UN envoy expressed concern at both the flights and the Hezbollah response.
“The anti-air defences of the Islamic resistance went into action against enemy Israeli military planes which, twice in the middle of the day, violated airspace in the central and western sectors of southern Lebanon,” the armed branch of Hezbollah said in a statement.
Police confirmed the movement’s anti-aircraft guns had fired for about 15 minutes at three Israeli fighter bombers overflying southern Lebanon, and that the planes had dropped flares.
None of the planes was reportedly hit.
Israeli witnesses in the border area of Kiryat Shmona and Israeli military officials also confirmed the firing.
The Israeli army advised residents near the border to stay inside buildings in case any shells landed in the area.
Hezbollah opened fire in similar incidents at Israeli planes flying over southern Lebanon on Thursday and Friday.
Israeli overflights have become an almost daily occurrence since Oct 22, when Hezbollah bombarded the Israel-held Shebaa Farms area, which is claimed by Lebanon.
They are counted by the United Nations as breaches of the “blue line”, which was demarcated after Israeli troops pulled out of southern Lebanon in May 2000.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy Staffan de Mistura raised the latest incidents in talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri on Monday.
“We suppose that the firing is due to Israeli overflights. However, a violation committed by one party does no justify another by second party, particularly at a time of regional tension,” he said.
“We are anxious,” de Mistura told journalists.
8,000 MISSILES: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres alleged on Monday that Iran had supplied the Hezbollah with 8,000 missiles capable of striking Israeli cities.
Peres, in New York for the World Economic Forum, said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune that Israel would not tolerate any missile attack from Lebanese territory.—Reuters
