Lebanon shoots at Israeli UAV
Lebanese armed forces formally report shooting at IDF unmanned aerial vehicle flying in southern Lebanon
The Lebanese army said it fired on an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) which had flown near the southern city of Tyre on Wednesday morning. Israeli warplanes had also flown in the area, it said in a statement, giving no further details.
Spokespersons for the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon and the IDF both confirmed the army had opened fire on the UAV, with the IDF reporting that the shooting had not endangered the aircraft.
Israeli warplanes regularly fly over south Lebanon but witnesses said Wednesday's flights, seen from the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon, were unusually frequent and at a lower altitude than normal.
UN peacekeepers and Lebanon say Israeli overflights violate Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the July-August war between Israel and Hizbullah guerrillas.
Earlier this month the outgoing commander of the UN peacekeepers said Israeli warplanes were still flying over southern Lebanon on a daily basis despite appeals for them to halt the missions.
Israel complains to UN
Meanwhile, Israel's delegation to the UN submitted a complaint Wednesday with the world body in protest at the ongoing funneling of arms from Syria and Iran to Hizbullah.
Citing UN Resolution 1701 and its call for an arms ban on Hizbullah, Israel urged the Security Council to take action against the Shiite group. Israel says its combat planes will continue to fly over Lebanon to ensure that weapons are not smuggled into southern Lebanon from Syria to re-supply Hizbullah.
This week a top Israeli intelligence analyst said Hizbullah is replenishing rockets launched or destroyed during the war and will soon have a more powerful arsenal than before.
Yitzhak Benhorin and Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report
