Lebanon-Israel border tense
Source: Agencies |
August 4, 2010, Wednesday
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LEBANESE and Israeli troops exchanged fire on the border yesterday in the most serious clashes since a fierce war four years ago, killing four people including two Lebanese soldiers and an Israeli army officer.
The violence apparently erupted over a move by Israeli soldiers to cut down a tree along the fence dividing the two countries, a sign of the level of tensions at the border where Israel fought a war in 2006 with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The United Nations urged "maximum restraint" and said it was working with both sides to restore calm. After an initial clash of about five minutes, intermittent shelling and gunfire went on for several hours until the fighting stopped by mid-afternoon.
A Lebanese army officer said the clash started when Israeli troops tried to remove a tree from the Lebanese side of the border.
The Israeli military said the tree was in Israeli territory and the tree cutting was coordinated with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.
The military said Lebanese forces opened fire on the troops, who returned the fire, followed by an Israeli artillery barrage.
The Lebanese officer said one of the Israeli shells hit a house in the Lebanese border town of Adaisseh. One civilian was wounded in the shelling. A security official also said a Lebanese journalist working for the daily al-Akhbar newspaper, Assaf Abu Rahhal, was killed when an Israeli shell landed next to him in Adaisseh.
The border has been relatively quiet since the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war that left 1,200 Lebanese and about 160 Israelis dead. Yesterday's fighting did not appear to involve Hezbollah fighters.
The violence apparently erupted over a move by Israeli soldiers to cut down a tree along the fence dividing the two countries, a sign of the level of tensions at the border where Israel fought a war in 2006 with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
The United Nations urged "maximum restraint" and said it was working with both sides to restore calm. After an initial clash of about five minutes, intermittent shelling and gunfire went on for several hours until the fighting stopped by mid-afternoon.
A Lebanese army officer said the clash started when Israeli troops tried to remove a tree from the Lebanese side of the border.
The Israeli military said the tree was in Israeli territory and the tree cutting was coordinated with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.
The military said Lebanese forces opened fire on the troops, who returned the fire, followed by an Israeli artillery barrage.
The Lebanese officer said one of the Israeli shells hit a house in the Lebanese border town of Adaisseh. One civilian was wounded in the shelling. A security official also said a Lebanese journalist working for the daily al-Akhbar newspaper, Assaf Abu Rahhal, was killed when an Israeli shell landed next to him in Adaisseh.
The border has been relatively quiet since the summer 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war that left 1,200 Lebanese and about 160 Israelis dead. Yesterday's fighting did not appear to involve Hezbollah fighters.
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