Israel Matzav

Congress to investigate LAF shooting

Representative Ron Klein (D-Fl) has told Foreign Policy's The Cable blog that Congress will investigate whether US-issue M-16 rifles were used by the Lebanese Armed Forces in Tuesday's incident and whether the LAF targeted IDF commanders as Israel asserts.

[T]his week's deadly shooting exchange between LAF and Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers over the removal of a tree near the security fence dividing the two countries is raising old questions about the dependability of the LAF, and whether U.S. arms are being used to attack Israel, America's closest ally in the region.

Neither the U.S. nor Israeli governments know for sure whether the sniper rifle that an LAF soldier fired to start the incident was from the batches of M16 sniper rifles that came from the United States. But some in Congress are determined to find out.

"I am calling for an inquiry into the incident on the Lebanese border, focusing on whether equipment that the United States provided to the Lebanese Armed Forces was used against our ally, Israel," Rep. Ron Klein, D-FL, told The Cable. "If it's factually shown that this was a Lebanese government authorized action, I would be very concerned about continuing to provide military support to Lebanon, and I think other members of Congress would agree."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is also said to be skeptical of continued U.S. military support to the LAF, though he has never said so publicly.

Regardless of the origin of the rifle, Klein and others want to know whether the incident was planned by the LAF or the Lebanese government. "We owe it to the American taxpayer to learn whether this attack on Israel was coordinated and premeditated," he said.

An Israeli official, speaking on background, told The Cable that several persuasive pieces of evidence have led Israel to conclude that the attack was planned in advance.

For example, UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force tasked with ensuring calm along the border, requested a three-hour delay before Israel removed the disputed tree so that the Lebanese could be alerted. The IDF acceded to this request, but by the time the tree removal began, there were two Lebanese reporters on the scene. One of them was killed and the other was injured in the resulting melee.

"We believe that in those three hours, they decided this would be a good chance to set up some sort of incident," the official said.

...

The Israeli official said the first shot was from a sniper rifle and was not aimed at the soldier cutting down the tree (which was apparently on the Lebanese side of the fence but the Israeli side of the border), but rather the unit commander, who was in his truck some 200 feet away.

That commander, Lt. Col. Dov Harari, was killed, and the officer next to him was seriously injured. The targeting of the commander, a 45-year-old reserve officer overseeing a maintenance unit, could not have been an accident or self-defense, the official said. "All of this proves to us that this was a pre-planned ambush and not some sort of mishap."

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley defended arms sales to Lebanon in Wednesday's press briefing.

“I don’t think this fundamentally changes the support that we’re providing to the government of Lebanon,” he said.

“We are committed to Israel’s security, but we’re also committed to Lebanese sovereignty.

These interests are not mutually exclusive. They’re not in contradiction.”

He added, “Unfortunately, from time to time, you have these flashpoints. But it doesn’t change our long-term strategic interest in the region.”

Asked about reports that the Lebanese snipers used American- issued guns to shoot at the IDF, Crowley said he couldn’t confirm the accounts, but noted, “We have provided support to Lebanon to strengthen the ability of the Lebanese government to exercise its own sovereignty. This is in our interest.

We certainly do not want to see the kind of exchanges of fire that occurred yesterday.”

But with Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah so pleased with this week's events that he has offered to integrate his troops into the Lebanese Armed Forces, one has to wonder whether the US can or will keep propping up the Lebanese government with arms.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:03 AM