ADAYSSEH, Lebanon (AFP) – Lebanese and Israeli troops traded fire Tuesday along their tense border in the fiercest clashes since a 2006 war, with two Lebanese soldiers, a journalist and a senior Israeli officer killed.
Each side blamed the other for causing the fight, with the Lebanese army acknowledging that it fired first.
A statement by the Lebanese army said troops opened fire on the Israelis after "a patrol crossed the technical (border) fence."
"The patrol did not stop despite UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon) attempts to stop it, and the Lebanese army confronted the troops with gunfire and RPGs," the statement said.
An army spokesman said the Israelis were attempting to uproot a tree on the Lebanese side.
Earlier reports had said three Lebanese soldiers had died but the army later put the death toll at two.
Six hours after the clashes began at around noon (0900 GMT) near the village of Adaysseh, the area was reported to be quiet.
Lebanese President Michel Sleiman met top defence officials and decided to file a complaint with the UN Security council, whose members were to meet later in the day for private consultations on the incident.
Meanwhile, General Said Eid, chief of the country’s top defence council, said Lebanon stands ready to face Israeli aggression "by all available means."
"After consultations, the council has … given instructions to face all aggression on our territory, army and people by all available means and no matter the sacrifices," he said.
And Prime Minister Saad Hariri called various leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to denounce the Israeli "aggression."
The "violation of Lebanese sovereignty and demands … the United Nations and the international community bear their responsibilities and pressure Israel to stop its aggression," a statement from Hariri’s office said.
The Israeli foreign ministry responded with equal force.
"Israel sees the government of Lebanon as responsible for this grave incident and warns of the consequences in the event that disturbances of this kind continue," it said.
Israel’s military blamed Lebanon for the fighting.
"Full responsibility for the incident and its consequences lies with the Lebanese army, which disrupted the calm in the area," it said in a statement.
"During the afternoon, the Lebanese army opened fire towards an IDF (Israeli Defence Forces) position along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. The force was in Israeli territory, carrying out routine maintenance and was pre-coordinated with UNIFIL," it said, referring to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
UNIFIL did not immediately respond to the Israeli claim.
The army named the dead Israeli officer as Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari, 45, a battalion commander. It also said a captain had been critically wounded.
Tuesday’s clashes marked the deadliest incident along the border since the devastating war between the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Israel.
Hezbollah took no part in Tuesday’s fighting, which erupted in its stronghold.
The group’s chief, Hassan Nasrallah, was expected to address the incident in an already scheduled speech on Tuesday night.
The UN force urged "maximum restraint" following the clashes along the so-called Blue Line, a UN-drawn border.
"Our immediate priority at this time is to restore calm in the area," spokesman Neeraj Singh told AFP.
He said acting force commander Brigadier General Santi Bonfanti had flown to the site of the clashes and had personally called on both parties to "stop firing in all the area".
"UNIFIL’s immediate priority is to consolidate the calm and we are urging both parties to exercise maximum restraint," Singh added.
Syria condemned what it said was Israel’s "heinous aggression."
"President Bashar al-Assad … telephoned Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and expressed Syria’s support for Lebanon against the heinous aggression launched by Israel on Lebanon," state news agency SANA reported.
"President Assad considers that this aggression proves once more that Israel has always been seeking to destabilise security and stability in Lebanon and the region," SANA said.
Adaysseh is located about 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of the coastal city of Tyre.
Large swathes of southern Lebanon were destroyed in the 2006 war, which killed 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Tension in the region has been mounting in recent months following reports Hezbollah was stockpiling weapons in preparation for a new war.
ADAISSEH, Lebanon (Reuters) – Israeli and Lebanese troops clashed on the two countries’ border on Tuesday, raising concerns that a new round of fighting might erupt.
A senior Israeli officer, two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were killed in the exchange of fire, the most serious violence along the frontier since a 2006 war.
The United Nations and the United States urged both sides to show restraint.
Hezbollah fighters, who battled Israel four years ago, took no part in the exchange of fire. But Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group would not stand silent if Israel attacked the Lebanese army in the future.
Lebanon and Israel gave different accounts of the events leading up to the clash and the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon said it had yet to ascertain the circumstances leading to the bloodshed.
The Lebanese army said an Israeli patrol had crossed the technical line of the border although U.N. peacekeepers had told it to stop.
"A Lebanese army force then repelled it using rocket propelled grenades. A clash happened in which the enemy forces used machine guns and tank fire targeting army posts and civilian houses," it said.
Major-General Gadi Eisenkot, head of Israel’s northern command, said Lebanese snipers fired at officers inside Israeli territory. The Israeli army showed reporters blood stains outside a bunker some 100 meters inside its side of the border fence where it said the colonel was shot in the head and another officer was shot in the chest and seriously wounded.
"There were only two or three shots," said an Israeli military spokeswoman. "They were standing there, where the blood is." They were watching other troops move a cherry-picker crane next to their warning fence behind the demarcation line to trim a tree, whose branches were tripping the fence’s electronic anti-infiltration devices, the spokeswoman said.
An Israeli tank was targeted by rocket-propelled grenade, he said, and the tank fired back and killed the RPG squad.
"Israel has responded and shall respond aggressively in the future to any attempt to disrupt the calm along the northern border or to harm residents of the north or the soldiers protecting them," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
Security sources and witnesses said no more fighting took place but tension remained high. There was no sign of any extensive Israeli preparations for a large-scale operation.
Nasrallah said he did not think Tuesday’s clash would lead to a bigger conflict. "I don’t expect a war to happen soon … but there are reasons for worry," he said.
U.N., U.S. CALL FOR "MAXIMUM RESTRAINT"
The United States, Israel’s main backer, called for both sides to exercise restraint.
"The last thing that we want to see is that this incident expand into something more significant," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in Washington.
The U.N. Security Council also voiced concern.
"The members of the Security Council called on all parties to practice utmost restraint, strictly abide by their obligations under resolution 1701, observe the cessation of hostilities and prevent any further escalation on the Blue Line," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a council meeting.
Security Council resolution 1701 halted hostilities in the Israeli-Hezbollah war in 2006 and banned all unauthorized weapons between the Litani River and the Blue Line, the U.N.-monitored border between Israel and Lebanon.
A new war could be more devastating than the last. Tension has increased since April, when Israel accused Syria of transferring long-range Scud missiles to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon — an allegation Syria has rejected.
Israel has threatened to attack Lebanese infrastructure in any new conflict. In 2006 it bombed bridges, fuel tanks, radar stations and Beirut airport, while Hezbollah fired 4,000 rockets into Israel.
Lebanon’s Higher Council for Defense headed by President Michel Suleiman said it held Israel accountable for Tuesday’s clash and it would complain to the U.N. Security Council.
It was the first time there were fatalities on either side since the 2006 war in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Lebanon, along with 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry also said it would file a complaint at the United Nations over the clash, accusing Beirut of violating the U.N. resolution that halted the last war.
Hezbollah’s Nasrallah, addressing tens of thousands of supporters via video link, said: "I say honestly, that in any place where the Lebanese army will be assaulted and there’s a presence for the resistance, and it is capable, the resistance will not stand silent, or quiet or restrained."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad telephoned Suleiman to offer support and Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri spoke to a number of leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and asked for France’s assistance in ending what he called "Israeli aggressive practices against Lebanon and its army."
Israel’s shekel currency fell against the dollar over worries about the incident. But research firm Eurasia Group said that although it would raise diplomatic tensions, it was unlikely to lead to more fighting."
(Reporting by Mariam Karouny and Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Jeffrey Heller, Allyn Fisherilan in Jerusalem; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Jon Hemming)
