Lebanese army says fired at IAF jets
Lebanese eyewitnesses say Israeli jets perform mock raids over Hizbullah stronghold of Dahiya in southern Beirut; Lebanese army says opened fire at jets
Israel Air Force warplanes staged mock raids Tuesday over Hizbullah strongholds in south Beirut in the heaviest show of aerial power since the Aug. 14 ceasefire, and the Lebanese army issued a statement hours later saying it fired anti-aircraft artillery at the planes in southern Lebanon.
The army statement said four of eight Israeli planes flew over southern Lebanon while the other four flew over the rest of the country including Beirut.
Lebanon's official National News Agency reported that the Israeli planes released hot air ballons to deflect heat-seeking missiles over southern Beirut.
At least six times the Israeli fighter jets dived down to zoom low over the southern suburbs before roaring up to the sky.
No bombs were reported, but the roar of the jets caused concern among residents, some of whom took to the rooftops and balconies to watch.
The IDF said these are routine reconnaissance flights.
Israel rejected demands by the United Nations and the European Union to halt violations of Lebanese aerial space, saying Israeli jets would continue to fly over Lebanon until arms smuggling to Hizbullah is halted.
Last week, German daily Der Tagesspiegel quoted a junior German Defense Ministry official as telling a parliamentary committee that two Israeli F-16 fighters flew low over a German ship patrolling Lebanese waters and fired two shots.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz initially denied that an incident had occurred but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert officially apologized to Germany over the occurrence.
'Stop overflights'
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and General Alain Pelligrini, the commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon, urged European Union Foreign Policy Coordinator Javier Solana on Saturday to press Israel to halt overflights.
At the end of the meeting, SIniora and Solana held a press conference, in which Siniora said: "We had a good meeting in which we dealt with a number of issues, starting from the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, as well as the question what are the issues which have not yet been implemented due to lack of cooperation and the Israeli aggressiveness.
"We also discussed the cooperation between the Lebanese army and the boosted UNIFIL force, as well as the continuation of flights over Lebanon, which constitute an Israeli violation of Resolution 1701."
