Israel Matzav

New incident between IAF and German forces in Lebanon

Al-Reuters is reporting yet another incident between the IAF planes monitoring weapons transfers to Hezbullah and German forces attached to UNIFIL in Lebanon. Germany has apparently confirmed the incident:

The Defense Ministry said it occurred on Thursday and involved a German navy helicopter and Israeli F-16 fighters.

"We are aware of the episode, but it was not menacing," The spokesman said, after the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported the Israeli planes had "dangerously badgered" The helicopter.

The spokesman said the area was used by the Israeli air force for training, adding: "Perhaps other standards apply for them than for us."

On Wednesday, Israel denied a German newspaper report that two of its air force planes had fired twice as they flew over a German navy ship patrolling the Lebanon coast. But it did say jets had been scrambled when a helicopter took off from a German aircraft carrier without identifying itself.

Germany confirmed at the time that that an incident had occurred, but gave no details. It subsequently received assurances from Defense Minister Amir Peretz that the air force would not carry out any hostile fire or maneuvers around German vessels.

It would be nice if someone did something about the arms shipments to Hezbullah instead of just 'monitoring' them or complaining when someone else monitors them.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:59 PM