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Israel
Threatens Syria, Violates Lebanese Airspace
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| Israel shelled the Lebanese village of Kfar Shouba |
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, April 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Israel
threatened Syria and Lebanon Monday, April 1 that it would respond to
a machine-gun attack late Sunday, March 31, on an Israeli army
position along the Lebanese border, news agencies reported.
Israeli
warplanes also violated Lebanese airspace, roaring over the country's
southern border districts, news agencies reported.
The
attacks happened in an area of southern Lebanon which is still under
occupation by Israeli forces.
Israeli
fighter-bombers flew at medium altitude over the Marjayoun region
before zooming over the southeastern Western Bekaa district, facing
the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms border area, Lebanese police said.
The
over flights came after unidentified gunmen opened fire during the
night at an Israeli outpost in the western sector of the
Lebanese-Israeli border, according to Israel public radio.
No
group has claimed firing the shots. Officials of the United Nations
peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon were not available for comment.
Lebanese
residents of the area said that a group of men fired automatic rifles
at an Israeli outpost facing the border village of Rmeish, around 30
km southeast of a Palestinian refugee camp near the city of Tyre,
Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz reported.
The Israeli troops responded by opening fire and dispatching attack
helicopters, they added.
The
flights also came amid an increasingly tense regional situation as
Israel stepped up its war on the Palestinians, after trapping
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in his offices in the West Bank
town of Ramallah.
Israel's
frequent over flights are counted by the United Nations as violations
of the "blue line" which was demarcated after Israeli troops
pulled out of south Lebanon in May 2000 following 22 years of
occupation.
The
position in the western sector of the border came under fire from
southern Lebanon, where the Shiite group Hezbollah is active, Israeli
radio said. No injuries were reported.
"I
already sent messages to Syria and Lebanon and I can tell you one
thing: this attack will not go unanswered," said Defense Minister
Binyamin Ben Eliezer, quoted by Ha’aretz.
Ben
Eliezer had a ready response for suggestions that messages sent by
Israel to Syria do not appear to have much impact. "If our
statements do not impress them, they will be impressed by other
things," the defense chief said.
The
attack Sunday was the first such incident in the area since the
unilateral withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in May
2000 under the pressure of an escalating resistance campaign led by
Hezbollah.
On
Sunday morning, eight Israeli shells were fired into south Lebanon,
landing near a border village but causing no casualties.
On Saturday, Hezbollah had fired on
Israeli positions in the occupied Shebaa Farms area, triggering
Israeli air raids on southern Lebanon.
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