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Lebanese Airspace Violated As Shebaa Farms Not Debatable
MARJAYOUN, Lebanon, May 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli jets violated Lebanese air space Thursday for the second consecutive day, triggering an alert by Lebanese, Syrian and Hezbollah forces as the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon said that the Shebaa Farms was an issue not up for debate.
Lebanese army troops and Syrian forces deployed in eastern Lebanon were restricted to their bases, while anti-aircraft batteries were on alert, they said.
The Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah also advised farmers and shepherds not to approach the disputed Israeli-occupied border Shebaa Farms area where the group had staged an attack on Monday, they said.
Earlier Thursday, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over the ancient city of Baalbek, a Hezbollah-stronghold in Syrian-controlled eastern Lebanon.
The fighter-bombers also flew at medium altitude over the border zone in southern Lebanon that Israel had occupied for 22 years before its May 2000 troop pullout.
On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes broke the sound barrier over southern Lebanese cities and Beirut.
Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer warned Syria Tuesday against new attacks from southern Lebanon on Israeli positions, after rocket fire on the Shebaa Farms by Hezbollah.
Syria, which stations 35,000 troops in Lebanon, backs Hezbollah along with Iran.
The attack on the area occupied by Israel since 1967 and claimed by Beirut caused no casualties or damage, an Israeli official said.
Since the Israeli withdrawal last year, Beirut has complained to the United Nations of dozens of Israeli violations of its air space.
A Lebanese government source said that Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara was due to hold talks with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud during a visit to Lebanon on Friday.
Lahoud received a phone call earlier Thursday from his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, in which they discussed "the continued Israeli massacres against the Palestinians and the continued pressures against Lebanon and Syria."
Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Satterfield ruled out Thursday questioning whether Israel had completed a full withdrawal from south Lebanon last May, despite Beirut's claim to the Israeli-held Shebaa Farms.
"There is an acceptance by all sides, including the Lebanese government, of the U.N. blue line including the Shebaa Farms," he said, alluding to the U.N.-drawn line between Israel and Lebanon following Israel's withdrawal.
"There should be no debate over this issue. The government of Lebanon has formally accepted the U.N. blue line. It did so a year ago; that issue should not be reopened," Satterfield said following a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud.
Lebanon accepted the blue line, but still said it did not consider the Israeli withdrawal complete without the Shebaa Farms.
The Jewish state captured the 20 square-kilometer (eight square-mile) territory from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, 11 years before its first invasion of Lebanon, but Damascus has backed Lebanon's claim to the mountainous territory.
The Lebanese government has sanctioned acts of resistance by Hezbollah on Israeli military in the Shebaa Farms since the withdrawal.
Since October, three Israeli soldiers have been taken hostage and three more killed by Hezbollah in the Shebaa Farms area.
Satterfield's comments follows on the heels of a U.S. House of Representatives approval on Wednesday of a measure cutting U.S. aid to the Lebanese military until it secures the border with Israel and prohibits Hezbollah strikes from within its territory.
The measure, introduced by Democratic lawmaker Tom Lantos, was passed 216-210 as an amendment to a larger State Department authorization bill, which outlines the United States's foreign policy objectives.
"Hezbollah operates from Lebanese territory along the border with Israel with impunity," said Lantos, ranking Democrat on the House International Relations committee, when he announced the amendment on Tuesday.
"Lebanon has the power to stop these terrorist strikes from its territory - and a solemn obligation under international law to do so," he said, citing a U.N. Security Council resolution committing Lebanon to secure the border.
The amendment calls for a cut in U.S. funding for training Lebanon's armed forces and directs President George W. Bush to submit a plan for ending other assistance, if the administration cannot certify that Lebanon has deployed its army to the border within six months.
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