Breaking: Shots fired at IDF troops on Lebanese border, one reported killed
Shots have been fired at IDF troops on the Lebanese border by what the IDF believes is a
lone gunman. An IDF investigation is underway and a complaint has been filed with UNIFIL.
An initial IDF
assessment, based on data from lookout positions on the border, found
fire was opened by a soldier form the Lebanese Armed Forces, who
apparently
was acting alone.
Six to seven shots were fired at a vehicle, which was
located on a road adjacent to the electronic border fence with
Lebanon.
"We are sending messages to the United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon regarding the severity of this incident. There is no
indication that an infiltration into our territory occurred," an army source said.
"The IDF is prepared in the North," he warned.
The shooting occurred at
around 9 p.m., and immediately afterwards, Lebanese soldiers were seen gathering
on their side of the border. The IDF has launched an investigation into the
cross-border shooting.
Note that the IDF apparently did not fire across the border and kill the shooter as was the case in
this incident and in
this incident. One has to wonder why.
Tonight's incident occurred
near Rosh haNikra on the northwestern border.
The Beirut Daily Star is reporting that
an IDF soldier was killed. The IDF has not confirmed that yet. The Star is also claiming that IDF troops attempted to cross the border, which seems unlikely.
UPDATE MONDAY 12:26 AM
Haaretz is now confirming that
an IDF soldier was killed this evening in the incident on the Lebanese border. They are also reporting that UNIFIL has confirmed that the incident took place on the Israeli side of the border.
An Israeli soldier was killed Sunday evening by gunfire from Lebanon. The soldier's family has been informed.
A round of bullets struck Israel from Lebanese territory, apparently fired by a soldier from the Lebanon Army.
...
The IDF was concerned at first that the incident was a Lebanese attempt
to distract the Israeli force to enable armed militants to cross the
border, but an investigation has concluded that there was no
infiltration and that the shooter was not from Hezbollah.
...
The Lebanese Army also said that one of its soldiers was missing and
that there was suspicion that he was being held in Israeli hands. The
Lebanese army has declared high alert in the area and reported similar
action on the Israeli part.
This
is the first incident of its kind in three years. Israel has lodged a
complaint with the Lebanese government and with the United Nations, but
it does not seem as though this incident will lead to any sort of
escalation between the two countries.
A
spokesperson for the United Nations Force in Lebanon said that
representatives of the international force were in dialogue with both
sides in an attempt to prevent escalation and preserve the calm. He said
the incident occurred on the Israeli side of the border and that the
rest of the incidents were under investigation. Both sides were
cooperating, he said.
They shoot and we negotiate. What could go wrong?
Labels: IDF, Lebanese Armed Forces, Lebanese border breach
Two million people to crash Israel's borders next Friday?
Hamas' website is reporting that some two million people will attempt to crash Israel's borders next Friday as part of the '
Global March to Jerusalem.'
The organizing committee of the Global March to Jerusalem expects the participation of more than two million people in the march which will be started from the surrounding countries of Palestine, the Palestinian territories, and some other capitals on March 30, 2012.
"Several international personalities and organizations will join the Global March to Jerusalem that will take place in Jordon and the other surrounding countries except Syria», said the GMJ's chief executive and coordinator Dr Ribhi Haloum in a press conference held on Tuesday evening .
Halloum added that the Prime Minister Awn Al-Khasawneh expressed satisfaction about the march's preparation as a peaceful and civilized march offering the government's help to the organizers.
The PM also said that the Israelis are worried about the march and that they phoned him several times to ask about the route the march will take. Another indication of the Israelis taking this march seriously is the formation of a mini-cabinet to deal with it, according to the PM.
For his part, the president of the national preparatory committee for the Global March to Jerusalem Abdullah Obeidat confirmed the Prime Minister Awn Al-Khasawneh's aid to the preparations efforts adding that this will be an annual activity to stress the necessity to end the occupation and free Jerusalem.
Representatives of the participating delegations will present their speeches in a festival which will be held on the same day with the attendance of about 500 guests from outside the Kingdom.
Israel Radio reported on Friday (2:00 news) that the London-based pan-Arabic daily A-Sharq Al-Awswat is reporting that Israel has warned neighboring countries that anyone breaching the border will be treated as an infiltrator. I'm not sure what that means, but presumably it means they'll be shot. Not that their being shot would bother the rulers of any of our neighbors.
Labels: Egyptian border breach, Lebanese border breach, Syrian border breach
What the BDS'ers are planning for 2012
The Meir Amit terrorism information center has some details about
our enemies' plans for the coming months.
3. Thus a number of propaganda events are planned for the upcoming months, the most prominent of which are marches originating in the Arab states bordering on Israel, and possibly also from the Palestinian Authority, to be held on or around the Israeli Arab "Land Day" (March 30); a protest fly-in to Ben-Gurion International Airport (April 15, a week after Easter); and the "Israeli apartheid week" in various Western and other countries, especially on college campuses (February and March). There are also plans to reach the Gaza Strip by sea with a large flotilla (the idea is still being examined) or with lone boats (logistically and politically easier to send than a large flotilla).
4. Beyond the showcase events, the delegitimization campaign's routine anti-Israeli activities continue unabated, especially in the West (particularly Britain and the United States). They include the BDS campaign, which is gaining momentum and is waged in the Palestinian Authority as well; lawfare, manifested by the continuing attempts to bring senior Israeli figures to trial in Western countries and by possible appeals (lodged by both the delegitimization campaign and Palestinian Authority) to international legal forums such as the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
5. Of all the events, the most at this stage significant is the plan to hold marches from the Arab states to the borders of the State of Israel (mentioned were Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority). Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip and Britain are also involved in the media preparations, among them Ismail Haniya and Mahmoud al-Zahar, who made a public appeal for people to march to the borders of Israel on "Land Day" to "forcefully push the Palestinian cause back [to center stage]" (YouTube). Muhammad Sawalha and Zaher Birawi, two prominent Hamas activists in Britain who are participating in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, also appeared in a video posted on YouTube to promote the marches (see below). In addition, Zaher Birawi gave an interview in which he represented himself as the spokesman for the "global march to Jerusalem" (GMJ) (Al-Quds TV, January 17, 2012). Hamas' public involvement in the marches is exceptional because so far its public attention has focused on the land and sea convoys to the Gaza Strip.
6. The following is initial information about the various events currently being organized:
As you might expect, many of those behind these activities have long histories of involvement in terrorism.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: BDS, flotilla of fools, flytilla, Gaza, Lebanese border breach, Palestinian terrorism, Syrian border breach
Hezbullah planned attack on Israeli borders with Lebanon and Syria on May 15
Lenny Ben David presents evidence that
Hezbullah was behind the invasions of Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon on May 15.
Below are excerpts from an article written by one of the Maroun al Ras participants, Nour Samaha, a 28-year-old Swiss-Lebanese freelance writer based in Beirut. Presumably, Israeli security officials are studying similar photographs and the accounts of the May 15 attack on Israel's borders in preparation for the next onslaught.
...
Sunday 15th May, 2011
7.30am, Nada calls. "The buses are already full and they told us if we want to hitch a ride we'd have to stand the whole way down, is there space with you?" The buses are full? Big smile on my face. "Of course!" After a stop for coffee, we began our journey down, with Ahmad leading our two-car convoy. It was very unlikely we would get lost though, because every kilometre or so we'd pass half a dozen buses decked out with Palestinian flags, clearly heading in the same direction as us. And if somehow we missed those, someone had kindly taken the time to signpost the entire journey down with directions to Palestine. I guess for future reference, you know, after we've liberated it and we can make plans to hang out in Haifa for the weekend. Forward planning; I like.
...
Trying to be clever, Ahmad searched for an alternate route to beat the crowds to Maroun el Ras. Clearly the organisers, in conjunction with Hizbullah, had predicted there would be people with Ahmad's mentality, and blocked all other roads leading to the hill top, ensuring complete control of the masses of people descending on the border from all corners of the country. And it was very well executed. Herding us like sheep into a pen, we got in line behind each other, slowly moving forward.
...
From the start we had taken the decision to go to the border fence, so once we found the others, we headed down towards the fence. Looking into the distance at the border, one could see a hail of stones being thrown over the fence, almost automatic, as if in time with some invisible beat. Some had even managed to throw a couple of flags onto the fence. As the shots continued to ring out, news quickly travelled up the hill, with people passing on unconfirmed statistics of the dead and wounded. "1 dead." "4 dead." "10 wounded." The shots continued.
At the bottom of the hill was a dirt road. By this time it was probably around 1pm, and the [Lebanese] army had started to gather, forming a blockade to prevent protestors from crossing into the field which led to the fence. We had seen scores of people retreating from the fence following several shots from the Israelis, before returning, hurling stones with renewed anger. Attempting to pass the blockade, we were at first politely asked to back away, before being roughly pushed back by the army, who were shouting at us to back up. "But we want to be at the fence," we pleaded with them. "What? You want to go over there are get shot? Are you not seeing the bodies they're bringing back?" One soldier responded aggressively.
But we were. We were seeing the bodies alright. We were seeing them, boys as young as 15, critically wounded. We were seeing them, wrapped in make-shift blankets and stretchers made of keffiyehs and Palestinian flags tied together. We were seeing them, covered in blood from gunshot wounds to the head, chest, or abdomen. And that's why we wanted to be at the fence. The more bodies were pulled away from the fence, whether dead or wounded, the more we, as a crowd, wanted to be there. To help, to support, to get angry, to chant, to do whatever was necessary to defend.
[Lebanese] army got tetchy with the crowd's pushing and shoving, and fired warning shots in the air. Followed by another round. People ducked to the ground to avoid the spray of bullets, unsure of what just took place. This wasn't supposed to happen; isn't the army supposed to fire at the enemy? Wasn't the enemy on the other side of the fence currently killing our protestors? The crowd reacted quickly, picking up whatever was around them and throwing them at the army; sticks, stones, bottles. A rain of objects fell on the soldiers, who retaliated with another round of shots. People started screaming at them; "Why??" "You should be firing at the Israelis not at us!" "Use your fire on the Israelis!" "You fire on your own people?!"
At one point the shots rang out. Everyone scrambled to the ground, face down, while shouting "watch out for the mines!", "Heads down! Keep your heads down!". But within seconds, everyone was on their feet again, running towards the fence, with their arms cocked and ready to throw. It would take about a minute before you heard "ambulance!", "injured!", or "killed!" as a result of the latest barrage of bullets, causing the protesters to get riled up even further. This did not happen just once, or twice. This was happening all the time. It got to a point where some people stopped ducking the bullets.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Lebanese border breach, Naqba day
'Palestinian Authority' calls for march on Israel's borders on the eve of Shavuoth
Deja vu all over again?
"Palestinian activists on the "Third Intifada" Facebook page called for marking the anniversary of the [Israeli] occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip [i.e., the Six-Day War], as on [the anniversary of] the Palestinian catastrophe [i.e., Palestinian term for the creation of the State of Israel], when demonstrations were held - one of which succeeded in crossing the border between Israel and Syria... The activists said, in their Internet announcement: "Out of loyalty to the Shahids (Martyrs), and in order to continue the path and to base ourselves upon the achievements of the revolutionaries and those who rose up, we announce forcefully and loudly that June 7th - the anniversary of the theft of Jerusalem, the 'flower of cities', by the Zionists - is the day for swearing loyalty to Jerusalem in every country of the world.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 19, 2011]
Shavuoth starts at sundown on June 7.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Lebanese border breach, Shavuoth, Syrian border breach
'Palestinians' call for rushing Israel's borders
Building on the successful breach of Israel's borders with Syria on Sunday, the 'Palestinians' are putting out the call for a massive effort to
approach and cross the Arab countries' borders with Israel.
The effort is scheduled for Friday and has nearly 100,000 'likes' on Facebook. The group – "Third Palestinian Intifada" – urges Arab activists in neighboring countries to storm Israel's borders in reaction to the recent "Nakba Day" events and ensuing casualties.
Several Facebook groups urge a third mass popular uprising against Israel, and one of them sports a "Friday of response" page, bearing the date May 20. The page, which currently has 100,000 "Like's", does not however give any details on how or exactly when these marches should take place.
Still, various reports in the Arab media, including in al-Jazeera, suggest that activists in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon plan to march on the Israel's borders; and that Palestinians from Gaza Strip and the West Bank are also expected to stage such marches.
The Facebook page that I have seen is
here.
Meanwhile, the United Nations, the Europeans and the shmuck in the White House, all of whom are pretending that if only Israel would return to the indefensible 1949 armistice lines all of this would stop, are ignoring the fact that there is precedent for breaching borders in this region and that it's considered
an act of war.
For this is not the first time in modern Middle Eastern affairs that an Arab autocracy has used massive marches of nominally civilian personnel to invade and undermine a neighboring state. In the past, such attempts have been denounced by the international community for what they are: a use of force against the territory of another state in violation of the U.N. Charter. International law is based on practical precedents, on the way given actions were legally judged by the world community in the past. It is a testament to the selective use of international law in the case of Israel that Morocco’s “Green March” into Western Sahara, by far the closest parallel to this week’s events, has not even been mentioned by world leaders.
...
The press has taken to calling the Arabs marching across the Israeli frontier “protesters.” In fact, “protests” are contained within a country; the organized crossing of a frontier is an invasion. In 1975, when Western Sahara was the victim, the world community was clear on this point (even though the Moroccans were unarmed, while the Syrians and Lebanese attacked Israeli soldiers with stones and other objects). Other Arab leaders called the Green March “a violation of the sovereignty of” Western Sahara and “an act contrary to international law.” Prominent international scholars described it as an illegal use of force, a “stealing of the Sahara,” in the words of one of the leading international lawyers of the time. The U.N. Security Council passed a measure that “deplored” Morocco’s invasion.
Moreover, despite the nominally civilian character of the marchers, several U.N. General Assembly resolutions recognized that the enterprise constituted a military occupation by Morocco. Observers noted that the march could not have gone off without the permission, and indeed encouragement, of King Hassan of Morocco, and thus he must take responsibility as if he had ordered army units across the border. It was a conquest despite the lack of arms: A large organized mob can be as forceful as an armed military unit. Indeed, as the Spanish capitulation proved, a march could be a more effective tool of conquest than a military strike against Western armies reluctant to fire on civilians.
Perhaps world leaders today would rather not remind anyone of the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, which in many ways showcases how the international rules applied to Israel are not those that govern the rest of the world. Rabat has occupied Western Sahara almost as long as Israel has occupied the West Bank, and with much less legal pedigree. Yet international efforts to end Morocco’s occupation have been scant and half-hearted. The occupation has been effectively accepted since the “peace process” in the region collapsed in 2004, when Morocco rejected a peace plan endorsed by the Security Council, with no damage to its international relations. Moreover, Morocco has implemented a massive policy of government-orchestrated settlement of Western Sahara. Yet the failed U.N. peace proposals did not contemplate uprooting a single Moroccan settler. Indeed, in the Security Council’s failed plan, the settlers, who now outnumber the natives, would get to vote in a plebiscite on the territory’s future.
Many observers have suggested that infiltrations represent a powerful new Arab tool for influencing world opinion against Israel. Yet the march tactic is not civil disobedience: It is an attempt at foreign conquest by the Arab states, just as when Morocco did it.
Indeed.
Labels: Lebanese border breach, Morocco, Syrian border breach, Western Sahara
You want who to keep the peace?
Lenny Ben David has a series of pictures that show how Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon were breached. The picture above - of Lebanese Armed Forces troops making a half-hearted effort to stop Lebanese infiltrators from approaching the border fence - is just one of many. But to me, the key point that needs to be learned on a long-term basis from Sunday's events is
this one:
View the pictures of the UN peacekeeping forces along Israel's border with Lebanon and Syria -- UNIFIL and UNDOF -- trying to stop the incursions and protect the peace. Oh, wait, there are no such pictures because the force mandated to keep peace was nowhere to be seen when Israel's sovereignty and security were under attack. So much for the idea floating around Washington to meet Israel's security demands in a peace agreement with the Palestinians by providing a foreign peacekeeping force on the West Bank.
Indeed.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Lebanese border breach, Syrian border breach, UNDOF, UNIFIL
