BEIRUT: Over a dozen Israeli warplanes violated Lebanon’s airspace Thursday, flying over the southern village of Alma Shaab and Rmeish in contravention of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, the Lebanese Army said.
“The warplanes [12 of them] performed circular maneuvers in the skies over many Lebanese areas before leaving [the airspace] at 9:55 am over the village of Rmeish,” the guidance directorate of the Lebanese Army said in the statement, adding that another warplane had violated Lebanon’s airspace earlier in the day over Rmeish and circled over the south, Ryak, Baalbeck and Hermel before leaving.
Meanwhile, two Israeli tanks briefly entered a disputed border area with Lebanon near the village of Adaysseh at 7:50 a.m., the Lebanese Army said in another statement Thursday.
“[The tanks] then headed at 9:30 a.m. toward the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement said, adding that the army had been deployed to take the “appropriate measures” in coordination with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
UNIFIL confirmed that one Israeli Army tank had crossed the technical fence and moved toward the Blue Line.
“UNIFIL immediately dispatched patrols to the area to defuse tension and prevent any escalation,” UNIFIL said in a statement, adding no violation of the Blue Line had been observed.
UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Alberto Asarta Cuevas called on the parties “to utilize the liaison and coordination mechanism through UNIFIL, particularly on matters relating to the Blue Line.”
A security official in the area said the tank advanced 4 meters into the disputed Blue Line before withdrawing, AFP reported.
“The army was conducting military exercises with UNIFIL when they noticed [Israeli tanks moving toward the technical fence],” a security source told The Daily Star online, adding that such movements by Israeli tanks were a normal occurrence but that they had managed to escape detection.
The Blue Line is a U.N.-drawn border between the two countries established in 2000. Both Lebanon and Israel have challenged the accuracy of the Blue Line in several locations.
In 2010, fighting broke out between the Israeli and Lebanese armies close to the Blue Line after an Israeli Army patrol attempted to cut down a tree in Lebanese territory. The incident resulted in the death of two Lebanese soldiers, an Israeli soldier and a journalist. – With AFP
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment