MAIS EL-JABAL (Lebanon), Nov 23: Israeli troops exchanged fire with Hezbollah guerillas across the Lebanese border on Wednesday, to provide cover for an Israeli paraglider pilot who drifted into Lebanon by accident.
The second incident on the border in three days was brief but looks set to increase tension in the area hours after Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets in Beirut urging Lebanese to act against Hezbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.
Hezbollah and Israeli sources said the civilian paraglider had drifted across the border to land just inside south Lebanon, between the Lebanese border village of Mais el Jabal and the Israeli border town of Manara.
Lebanese witnesses in the village said Hezbollah guerillas tried to advance towards the paraglider to capture him but were thwarted by heavy machinegun fire from the Israeli side.
“It was brief. The fighters could not reach him because of the heavy firing. The Israeli quickly went back,” one villager said.
Israeli military sources said the paraglider, who took off from the Israeli border town of Menara, had drifted astray and landed just inside Lebanese territory.
“Soldiers who were near that spot saw him land. They basically opened a gate in the fence and told him to go through it,” a source said. Military sources earlier said troops had entered Lebanon briefly to rescue the pilot.—Reuters
