Israeli jets fly over Lebanon, drawing fire from army and Hezbollah guns

[Aidoneus]

Israeli jets fly over Lebanon, drawing fire from army and Hezbollah guns

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan 19, 2004 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Israeli warplanes flew over eastern and southern Lebanon on Monday, drawing anti-aircraft fire from the Lebanese army and Hezbollah guerrillas, Lebanese security officials said.

Two Israeli jets flew over the southern cities of Sidon and Tyre and the market town of Nabatiyeh as well as the Hermel region in eastern Lebanon, breaking the sound barrier, the officials said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

The sonic booms caused panic among the population in the Hermel region in the Bekaa Valley, the official National News Agency reported.

Lebanese army gunners fired at the jets flying over the Sidon area but missed, the officials said.

The militant Hezbollah group, which has artillery positions near the border with Israel, said in a statement that its air defense unit fired at "Israeli enemy warplanes which violated Lebanese sovereignty over the central sector of southern Lebanon." Government officials confirmed the anti-aircraft fire, but said there were no hits.

--snip--

http://www.lebanonwire.com/0401/04011901LW.asp

[rockymountaindem]

1. This kind of thing happens all the time.

Go to the website of the IDF spokesperson/public affairs office. I think they still have a calendar there of clashes like this one. I think the last time I really paid attention a few years ago (after the pullout) something like this happened 2 or 3 times a week. No biggie.

[Scurrilous]

2. Might be a biggie...

...last year Israel warned Syria that the next Hizballah attack would bring immediate retaliation. There's a good chance things might escalate soon. We'll have to wait and see.

[The Stranger]

3. Amazing how airspace is

disregarded.

[Aidoneus]

4. Israeli jet swoops over Lebanon

Israeli jet swoops over Lebanon
Wednesday 21 January 2004

Israel violated Lebanese airspace again on Wednesday even as the Hizb Allah warned that it will respond to any more intrusions.

An Israeli fighter bomber flew over most of the south on Wednesday, particularly over the town of Nabatiya where it caused supersonic booms, police said.

Overnight, Israeli artillery gunners also fired 16 shells in the occupied Shebaa Farms, according to media reports, despite calls from US Secretary of State Colin Powell for both sides to avoid escalations.

These were the latest incidents after a flare-up of violence that started with Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace on Monday that drew anti- aircraft fire from Hizb Allah resistance fighters and UN condemnation.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F4E52E97-0E69-4A7D-943F-869F27F6EF87.htm

[GabysPoppy]

5. The Washington Post version of the same story

Israel said it was retaliating for a Hezbollah attack that killed one Israeli soldier and wounded another a day earlier, and said the attacks were intended as a message to Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

snip

In past years, attacks and counterattacks have spiraled into wider conflicts involving Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israeli border towns and Israeli air and artillery strikes of southern Lebanon and infrastructure targets deep in the country.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34067-2004Jan21.html

Al-Jazeera would never publish a slanted or biased news article or so I've been told.

[Aidoneus]

6. no, that's actually not a version of the same story

don't give much cred to the Post either way, but the piece I posted on (that you are responding to, that you ostensibly read) refers to something that has happened since then.

I don't need a link for the sequence of events for the last few days:--

--Israeli warplanes invade Lebanese airspace (as they often do), make a show of breaking the sound barrier over cities (the sonic boom that creates sounds like a bomb being dropped), Hizbullah & the Lebanese army fire on them.
--Israeli military bulldozer invades Lebanese land, Hizbullah fires on it.
--Israeli warplanes bomb Lebanese land, with thankfully no apparent casualties, then sends more warplanes to frighten people today (the latter of which being specifically the subject of what you are responding to).

Is there some hidden bias in this recap that I should be aware of?

[GabysPoppy]

7. Seems like the same incident to me

Extract whatever you wish from the article, I posted the link for you.

[Aidoneus]

8. this latest & specific act happened today..

thus this phrase to open the article I posted a few minutes ago--Israel violated Lebanese airspace again on Wednesday..
and my own phrase in #6--"something that has happened since then"..

the events described in the Post article were "yesterday's news".

[Aidoneus]

9. now this, on the other hand, is another version of the same story

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1029412.htm

I was originally going to post that (having found it earlier than when I checked at al-J), but the al-J piece was longer and decided on that instead.

Still no new response to the IAF bombings from the Islamic Resistance, perhaps this latest flare-up may die down soon unless something else flies north across the "Blue Line".

What is perhaps particularly interesting here is the lies told by the Israeli military at first--that in itself not particulary striking, but that they backtracked on them when arguments to the contrary supported Hizbullah's position. At first it was that the bulldozer was fully inside of the "Blue Line" at the time, then it was an "inch or two" over of the border, then a "couple yards", now it's "26 meters".. at this rate, that bulldozer will be crossing the Litani within a few days if the backtracking continues. :eyes:

[GabysPoppy]

10. Well having been there and having a family member work in Kiryat Shemona

I know personally that Hizbullah are daily tossing artillary there, it hardly matters which attack we are talking about.

[Aidoneus]

11. and my ex-girlfriend's family in Nabatiyah..

can attest to the daily/weekly sonic booms that they've grown to love. Their home was destroyed in the 90s, eventually rebuilt by Hizbullah's construction company oddly enough.

Not quite sure how the testimonial sharing is related, but the anecdote is appreciated even if it isn't true.

It actually does matter which specific event we are speaking of, particularly so when we speak of alternate versions of them.

[tinnypriv]

13. Not that I'd question the veracity of your family member

But why is this daily shelling not reported in the Israeli press?

I mostly spend my time reading the centerist and right leaning journals. I assume that they'd report it.

I'm open to the possibility that I simply missed these reports. :shrug:

[plurality]

15. yeah, it's just too bad that IDF soldier was in LEBANON

when he was killed

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L20571938.htm

I wonder what Israel would do if a Egyptian, Syrian, or Lebanese armored vehicle wondered in its territory?

[Aidoneus]

12. IDF: Hezbollah attack on not coordinated with Syria

That's odd, for right out of the blocks Israeli politicians and media were blaming Syria for this--barking the usual set of hostile threats, ominously telling citizens north of the "Blue Line" that they should "be worried"--and for the crooked sunrise (the latter is usually Arafat's fault, but he delegated that authority to al-Assad for the moment).. they're backtracking again? If they backtrack any more on this matter there will not be any storyline left on their end! I know that propaganda isn't meant to make sense, but they'll be confusing the cheer squad if this is kept up..
At any rate, the Israeli military doesn't seem to wish to escalate things further than it already has, which is a temporary bit of as close to what passes for "good news" as can be gotten here.

Last Update: 22/01/2004 05:04
IDF: Hezbollah attack on not coordinated with Syria
By Amos Harel and Uri Ash, Haaretz Correspondents

The Israel Defense Forces believes the anti-tank missile fired this week on the northern border, resulting in the death of a soldier, was not a preplanned Hezbollah attack coordinated with Syria.

A high-ranking IDF General Staff source Wednesday night told Haaretz Hezbollah activists in the area apparently fired the missile when they noticed the IDF bulldozer passing through the perimeter fence to clear explosive charges placed along the border.

"Hezbollah responded to what it saw as an infiltration of Lebanese territory," the source said. He said the attack was not coordinated in advance between Damascus and the Hezbollah leadership, and should not be likened to attacks in the Har Dov region, or the terror strike initiated and carried out by Hezbollah near Metsuba some two years ago.

Because of this, the source said, there was no reason for the IDF to respond by launching a strike against Syria. "But this doesn't mean we won't attack in Syria next time, if there was justification," he said.

--snip--

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/385575.html

[bemildred]

14. I do wonder how they "know" all this stuff ...

Do they get minutes from the Hezbollah meetings or something?