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Lebanese Plane Shot Down
BEIRUT, May 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Israeli warplanes intercepted a Lebanese civilian airplane over Lebanese territory Thursday before escorting it into Israeli airspace where it was shot down, Lebanese Transport Minister Nagib Mikati said.
"At 11:17 am, the Lebanese airplane was intercepted in Lebanese airspace by two Israeli fighters that escorted it toward Israeli airspace, where it arrived three minutes later," Mikati told the press.
Armenian Lebanese student pilot Estephan Nikolian, 43, died shortly afterwards when he was shot down south of the Israeli port city of Haifa, the Israeli military said.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli fighter jets chased the plane, which crashed after being hit by helicopter gunships.
A statement from the Lebanese military, however, echoed Mikati's statement, accusing the Israeli fighters of "having intercepted the airplane over Lebanon, obliging it to fly to occupied Palestine."
"Contact with the airplane was then cut," the statement added.
Lebanese aviation officials said Nikolian had taken off abruptly from Beirut airport in a Cessna light aircraft, leaving his flight instructor standing on the tarmac.
Mikati confirmed that Nikolian then headed without authorization toward southern Lebanon.
According to Lebanese aviation authorities, student pilots are prohibited from flying south from Beirut airport.
"We do not understand the reasons for the sudden takeoff," a civil aviation official said.
Mikati said the Cessna took off at around 10:45 am (0745 GMT) without advising Beirut's control tower.
"The student pilot cut all radio contact with the control tower when he reached south of Sidon [40 kilometers, 24 miles, from Beirut], and his plane was seen on radar having penetrated 17 kilometers [10 miles] into Israeli airspace."
Mikati said Nikolian had begun flight training in December 1999 but then dropped out, only resuming his lessons about two weeks ago, and still did not have a pilot's license. He was studying at the "JR" flying school, owned by Joseph Raphael, brother of Lebanon's former director general of state security, Raymond Raphael.
Lebanese security sources, however, claim that both the plane and pilot have been kidnapped.
The Israeli army stated that it was on alert for possible attacks from the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah on Thursday, the first anniversary of the Israeli army's withdrawal from south Lebanon, according to news agencies.
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