Lahoud Calls Israeli Intrusions Into Lebanese Skies "Air Terrorism"

     Reuters     2003/08/11

Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said on Monday Israeli intrusions into Lebanese skies were to blame for a border spat with Hezbollah that killed an Israeli teenager, calling the overflights "air terrorism." Israel responded to the death from cross-border Hezbollah anti-aircraft fire by blasting the outskirts of several south Lebanon villages on Sunday.

The killing of the 16-year-old was the first fatality in Israel by Hezbollah fire since Israel withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

"The cause of the latest incidents in the south are daily Israeli air violations that the United Nations has condemned for years following the liberation of the south from Israeli occupation," Lahoud said in a statement.

Lahoud also condemned as "air terrorism" overnight overflights on the capital Beirut that triggered an ear-splitting sonic boom, shook buildings and set off car alarms in the city's southern suburbs. "They come in the framework of Israeli action aimed at shaking security in the region," Lahoud said.

The United Nations, which has repeatedly warned that Israeli overflights could escalate into a more serious conflict, called for calm. It views both the overflights and Hezbollah's reaction as violations of the terms of Israel's pullout.

"We are appealing to all sides...to stop this type of potential escalation. Overflights should not take place over Lebanon," Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut.

He also complained about the danger of anti-aircraft fire, which he said was "most of the time correlated to overflights."

Tension has surged between Israel and Hezbollah since the latter's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened late last month to kidnap more Israelis unless there was a breakthrough in stalled prisoner swap talks.

A week after the threat, a powerful car bomb killed a Hezbollah member in an attack blamed on the Jewish state. Hezbollah said the killing would not go unpunished.

Hezbollah responded on Friday by attacking Israeli army posts in the disputed Shebba farms area, shattering seven months of relative calm on the border.