Israel had not crossed border when fired on, UN says (Roundup)

Aug 4, 2010, 14:18 GMT

Tel Aviv/Beirut - The United Nations force in southern Lebanon said Wednesday that the Israeli army was on its own side of the border when fired on by the Lebanese army.

The clash on Tuesday left two Lebanese troops, a Lebanese journalist and an Israeli commander dead, and sparked fears of a new flare-up of violence in the volatile area.

'UNIFIL has established that the trees being cut by the Israeli army are located south of the Blue Line on the Israeli side,' said the spokesman of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, Lieutenant-Colonel Naresh Bhatt.

Lebanon had accused Israel of violating Lebanese sovereignty by crossing the internationally recognized 'blue line,' when an engineering force accompanied by combat troops began cutting vegetation that had been causing false alarms to go off at the security fence and impaired vision.

Israeli troops Wednesday resumed the maintenance work, described as 'routine,' which had been left unfinished because of the clash.

It had taken place inside a strip of several dozen metres between the security fence and the blue line.

The Lebanese Army said it accepted that Israel finish the pruning job, after it was informed by UNIFIL that the trees were not on its territory.

But the Lebanese Army remained alert. 'We are watching the situation closely and coordinating with the UN forces in the area,' a Lebanese Army official told the German Press Agency dpa.

'We will retaliate in the event of a new Israeli aggression,' he warned.

An Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv confirmed the soldiers had resumed their work.

The Lebanese Army admitted its troops had opened fire first at the Israeli force working along the border, convinced that the Israeli force had trespassed and ignored calls to withdraw.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the force came under sniper fire, and Israel responded with fire, artillery and later also helicopter gunships.

It said it had given advance notice to UNIFIL of the maintenance work.

A piece of shrapnel was removed from an Israeli soldier injured in the clash overnight and he was out of danger, officials at Rambam hospital in the northern Israeli port city of Haifa said.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the IDF response to the Lebanese Army fire had been 'measured, correct and proportionate' and that action should be taken to avoid the isolated incident from turning into a crisis.

He told Israel Radio the shooting was not preplanned by the Lebanese. Barak added that he was not certain that earlier accusations that Lebanon had prepared a sniper attack and invited journalists in advance were correct.

He said Israel had protested 'in the past and also today' to the US and France against their deliveries of advanced weapons systems to the Lebanese Army.

The flare-up was unusual, with Israeli troops trading fire with the Lebanese Army, instead of with gunmen from the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has a strong presence in the area.

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah late Tuesday described the lethal border clash as 'heroic.'

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, on vacation in Italy, slammed Israel's 'aggression' against his country.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Israel views the clash as a 'clear violation' of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which ended a deadly 33-day clash between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

The 15-country Security Council held a closed meeting later Tuesday on the border clash, with members calling 'for utmost restraint' and for both sides to abide by resolution 1701.

The US State Department and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton have expressed concern and urged both Israel and Lebanon to take steps to ease tensions and to investigate the incident.