IAF jet during exercise, archives
Photo: Yair Sagi
Lebanese report: IAF jets flying over Beirut
A day after Lebanese army claims Israeli Air Force penetrated country's airspace, Lebanese media reports similar operations are still carried out in country's skies Sunday
Hezbollah's Al-Manar network reported Sunday morning that Israeli Air Force aircrafts are flying intensively in Lebanese airspace in the western Lebanon Valley, Beirut, Baalbek and Hermel.
Earlier Sunday it was reported by Voice of Lebanon radio station that IAF jets are scouring Lebanese airspace and hovering over the capital Beirut. Meanwhile, Lebanese El-Nashra news website reported that the IAF is operating in low altitude in the area of Baalbek in the Lebanon Valley.
LBC's report on IAF and Hezbollah threat (youtube)
The Lebanese army released a statement Sunday that two Israeli warplanes have entered Lebanese airspace and flew in the country for over an hour.
In the past two months, Lebanese media reported on numerous IAF operations within Lebanese airspace. However, none of the cases included a strike on Lebanese soil.
During the past weekend, there was much debate in the Lebanese media about an interview with senior Israeli officials in the Ramat David IAF base. Among others, the interview featured an Air Force unit commander who said: "We are closely following attempts to smuggle arms from Syria to Lebanon and attempting to prevent it from reaching Hezbollah."
LBC, the network that released the highly-debated interview, issued a statement on Saturday in which they claim they have fallen into an IDF trap, which used the network for its own purposes. "The error was made due to a misunderstanding, and not, God forbid, due to conspiring with the army that carried out the heinous acts in Lebanon, unrelated to its actions against the Palestinian people. They are still occupying Lebanese land and their Air Force is still violating Lebanese sovereignty," the statement read.
