Israeli & Lebanese soldiers exchange fire on border

[Lankan Ranger]

Israeli & Lebanese soldiers exchange fire on border

Israeli artillery shelled a Lebanese village on Tuesday, wounding two people, after Lebanese Army troops fired warning shots at Israeli soldiers along the usually quiet but tense frontier, witnesses said.

UN peacekeepers in Lebanon urged both sides to exercise "maximum restraint" after the border incident in an area where Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas fought a war four years ago.

Witnesses said the Israeli army fired at least seven artillery shells at the village of Edayseh. One shell hit a house and a Lebanese soldier and civilian were wounded, a security source said.

"It started when the Israelis wanted to cut a tree down inside Lebanon, the Lebanese army fired warning shots at them and they responded by shelling," the source said, adding the firing had stopped but tension was high.

"I heard some shots and some artillery shells. But I don't know from which side," a Reuters witness at the scene said. "I can see a fire in Edayseh. "(UNIFIL) UN peacekeepers and army troops are in the area."

Israeli security sources said Israeli and Lebanese troops exchanged fire. The sources said Israeli army engineers came under fire from Lebanese soldiers while working along the frontier, and the troops shot back.

Israeli military engineering units maintain a security fence along the border with southern Lebanon.

Israeli, Lebanese soldiers exchange fire on border

 

[FreekiN]

Were they trying to jump the fence and cut the tree? wtf?

 

[Jigs]

Were they trying to jump the fence and cut the tree? wtf?

Maybe it was seen being used by "terrorists" so it had to go.

Since that is usually why the houses get torn down.

 

[Devil Soul]

Deadly Israel-Lebanon border clash
At least three Lebanese soldiers, a senior Israeli officer and a journalist have been killed in an exchange of fire along the two countries' border.

The Lebanese say they opened fire after Israeli troops entered Lebanon. The Israelis deny crossing the border.

It is the first serious clash there since the 2006 conflict between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

Israel's foreign ministry warned Lebanon of "consequences" if violence continued.

"Israel views the Lebanese government as responsible for this serious incident," a ministry statement said.

In a statement, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned Israeli "aggression" and said Lebanese sovereignty had been violated.

The Lebanese army says Israeli soldiers crossed the border to uproot a tree in the Lebanese village of Adaysseh which was blocking their view.

A Lebanese army spokesman said it had fired warning shots and Israel had responded with fire from artillery positions and helicopters.

The army confirmed to the BBC that three of its soldiers had been killed and four wounded. The al-Akhbar newspaper confirmed that one of its journalists had also been killed.

Restraint urged
The Israel Defense Force (IDF) said its troops had been working on its side of the border near the town of Kiryat Shemona, when they received warnings to leave the area.

"The soldiers were on routine activity in Israeli territory, in an area that lies between the 'blue line' (the internationally recognised border between Israel and Lebanon) and the security fence, thus within Israeli territory," the IDF said in a statement.

People in Lebanese army uniform then opened fire on the troops. The Israelis first said two soldiers had been wounded, but then later confirmed that a senior officer had been killed.

Maj-Gen Gadi Eisenkot, head of the Israeli military's northern command, told reporters he believed the incident was "a one-time event".

Speaking at a base near the Lebanese border, he said: "We received requests and demands from the highest ranks in the Lebanese army to cease fire."

The UN peacekeeping force stationed in southern Lebanon, Unifil, has urged both sides to show "maximum restraint" following the clash.

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says the clash is an indication of the tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the incident could have been caused by one of the sides misidentifying the correct location of the border.

The exchange comes a day after rockets were fired at the Israeli resort of Eilat, with a stray rocket killing one person in the nearby port of Aqaba in Jordan.
BBC News - Deadly Israel-Lebanon border clash

 

[Solomon2]

The Lebanese army says Israeli soldiers crossed the border to uproot a tree in the Lebanese village of Adaysseh which was blocking their view.

"The soldiers were on routine activity in Israeli territory, in an area that lies between the 'blue line' (the internationally recognised border between Israel and Lebanon) and the security fence, thus within Israeli territory," the IDF said in a statement

The LA confesses they tried to kill Israelis because of a dispute over a tree - and it doesn't appear to have been a Lebanese tree, either. The U.N. calls for "restraint" - how does one teach restraint?

 

[Menes]

The army confirmed to the BBC that three of its soldiers had been killed and four wounded. The al-Akhbar newspaper confirmed that one of its journalists had also been killed.

RIP soldiers..

 

[QADRI]

its a sad news... God bless civilians....

 

[Menes]

Israeli soldiers and medics carry an Israeli soldier, injured during an exchange of fire with Lebanese troops, out of an ambulance to a helipad to be transported to hospital, near the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

A Lebanese soldier holds his rifle as Israeli troops patrol the border fence in the southern border village of Adaisseh, Lebanon, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010.

Civilians help a wounded Lebanese soldier at Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon August 3, 2010.

Lebanese soldiers take up position as U.N peacekeepers (in blue berets) gesture towards Israeli soldiers at the Lebanese-Israeli border in Adaisseh village, southern Lebanon August 3, 2010.