The Muqata was liveblogging the clash,
Mortars were exchanged--and YnetNews reports "massive explosions". It quotes Israeli residents in the area who saw Israeli jets flying towards Lebanon and reported that there had been no siren alarm.
Aljazeera is reporting:
"The Israelis fired four rockets that fell near a Lebanese army position in the village of Odaisi and the Lebanese army fired back," a Lebanese security official in the area told the AFP news agency.I'm not sure where the UNIFIL troops were during all this, seeing as how they are supposed to be the buffer in southern Lebanon. It's also not clear how they knew that Israel wanted to uproot trees, just how many trees, or how few trees could be expected to be cut without precipitating a reaction.(see update below)
The clashes erupted after Israeli soldiers reportedly attempted to uproot trees on the Lebanese side of the border.
Roots of conflict
Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Lebanon, said that "the Israeli army was coming close to the border to try to uproot some trees ... near the villages of Odaisi and Kuferkilla and then some tension erupted".
"The Lebanese army was there, it put itself on high alert," she said.
In other words, the Aljazeera report just sounds odd--especially when in the same report, another reporter is quoted as saying the whole thing was a misunderstanding, based on the IDF approaching the border while still staying on the Israeli side.
The Jerusalem Post also quotes the Lebanese claim that the IDF was attempting to cut down "a tree"--and a second claim that Israel was attempting to install cameras.
Oh and about those UNIFIL troops? According to the YNetNews article:
According to the AFP correspondent, soldiers from the Indonesian contingent of the UNIFIL forces in the area tried to calm the situation, unsuccessfully.The YNetNews article concludes that the IDF was in the enclave area in Israeli territory in order to prevent Hezbollah from creating a foothold there--something that the IDF has been doing on a regular basis. It was such a weakness that allowed Hezbollah to cross into Israel and kidnap reserve soldiers Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser.
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon called on the Lebanese and Israeli armies to exercise "maximum restraint" following the border incident.
"There's been an exchange of fire between the Lebanese army and the Israeli army along the Blue Line," UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told Reuters.
"The main priority of the mission at the moment is to restore calm in the area and the Deputy Force Commander Santi Bonfanti is in contact with the LAF (Lebanese Armed Force) and IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) command urging for maximum restraint," Tenenti said.
IDF Spokesperson blog defines the area:
The soldiers were on routine activity in Israeli territory, in an area that lies between the “blue line” (the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon) and the security fence, thus within Israeli territory.Also, according to its report, it was the IDF that was initially fired upon by Lebanon.
UPDATE1: Check out Israellycool, who has 2 photos of UNIFIL standing next to Lebanese soldiers armed with RPG's (at 4:55pm and 4:32pm in the post). Were they shielding them?
UPDATE2: This is what appears to have precipitated the exchange of fire:
According to the caption in the article, it is being assumed that the fence lies exactly on the border between Israel and Lebanon, while according to the IDF Spokesperson blog quoted above the action occurred "in an area that lies between the “blue line” (the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon) and the security fence, thus within Israeli territory."
Based on the YNetNews story I quoted above, the IDF was cutting the trees to keep the area between the fence and the actual border clear to keep Hezbollah for controlling that area and possibly launching another attack to kidnap IDF soldiers.
In fact, does this photo below of UNIFIL apparently waving at the IDF indicate that the cutting of the trees was in fact arranged in advance with UNIFIL?
Another question that needs to be answered is what was Reuters doing on the scene in Lebanon before shots were fired.
UPDATE3: According to IDF Spokesperson--cutting the trees was coordinated with UNIFIL in advance, and the IDF responded to Lebanese fire.
UPDATE4: Israel Matzav is quoting Northern sector commander Gadi Eizencott that the IDF was ambushed.
UPDATE5: Someone finally thinks to talk to UNIFIL, who confirms IDF statements.
More on Memeorandum
Crossposted on Soccer Dad
Technorati Tag: Israel and Lebanon.
4 comments:
You know whose fault its going to be.
Usually, this would be regarded as an act of war.
And if one broke out, UNIFIL couldn't stop it.
What it reveals is a decision on whether to break the 2006 truce is entirely within Hezbollah's hands.
Today's incident may not lead to a full-blown war, but it would take very little to spark one on Israel's northern border.
But with the details emerging, this is emerging as much more than a simple misunderstanding or error.
It seems the world will never have peace with brothers killing brothers in the Middle East. I can’t understand why the US keeps fueling the fire. It’s as if they expect a different outcome than the same one that’s been occurring since Israel was formed.
How is helping the brother being attacked "fueling the fire"?
If the Arabs stopped attacking Israeli citizens, the bloodshed would stop.
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