Lebanese Army Fires at Israel Warplanes

12/10/2004| IslamWeb

Israeli warplanes flew over much of Lebanon yesterday, drawing anti-aircraft fire from the Lebanese army, Lebanon's military said. Israel regularly makes overflights of Lebanon but usually on a smaller scale than yesterday. The UN has often criticised Israel's violation of Lebanese airspace. "Ten Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace this morning starting at around 10.30am ... where they were resisted with anti-aircraft fire," an army statement said. Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, ending a 22-year occupation, but confrontations across the border between Israeli forces and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas have flared sporadically. Hezbollah often fires at Israeli planes during their overflights, but a military spokesman said yesterday's anti-aircraft fire came from army units. The head of Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah said the overflights seemed to have escalated in the wake of a UN Security Council resolution which criticised Syria's powerful role in Lebanon. "Not reconnaissance planes but war planes, constant escalation, constant incitement, constant violations of (Lebanese) airspace in a provocative manner," Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said at the opening of a new hospital wing in Beirut. "We in the resistance have behaved responsibly...but the way we behave today may not be the way we behave tomorrow." **PHOTO CAPTION*** An Israeli flag is burned during a sit-in held at the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp near Sidon, in south Lebanon Friday, Oct. 8, 2004. (AP)