Lebanese Armed Forces fire on IDF patrol, one LAF soldier killed
Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) troops fired on an IDF border patrol on Monday morning. The IDF returned fire and one LAF soldier was killed. The IDF reported the incident to the UNIFIL force stationed in Lebanon along the border, stating that Israel was not interested in an escalation of violence.That incident was a year ago on Wednesday.
The army added that they believed the incident was contained and it did not appear that a larger operation would follow.
Lebanese news website Naharnet reported that the LAF opened fire when IDF soldiers crossed over to the Lebanese side of the border. The IDF emphasized that they were operating on the Israeli side of the border.
The incident came one year after Lebanese soldiers shot and killed an Israeli battalion commander in an attack along the northern border. In last year's incident, Lebanon claimed that Israeli soldiers crossed the Blue Line dividing the two countries. However, UNIFIL concluded that the IDF soldiers had not crossed the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon when pruning a tree on the other side of the fence but were still within Israeli sovereign territory.
In the most severe border incident since the end of the Second Lebanon War in 2006, a LAF sniper shot and killed Lt. -Col. Dov Harari, commander of a reserves battalion that was conducting the work along the fence near Misgav Am. Three LAF soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were also killed.
Hmmm.
Labels: blue line, Dov Harari, Hatzbani River, Lebanese Armed Forces, Misgav Am
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:48 AM
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