BEIRUT, 14 August 2003 — Lebanon’s Hezbollah said it fired anti-aircraft rounds at Israeli jets that roared over Lebanon yesterday, three days after Israel struck southern Lebanon in response to the killing of an Israeli teenager by similar fire.
“The air defense unit of the Islamic Resistance confronted...Zionist enemy warplanes that violated Lebanese sovereignty over central areas of south Lebanon,” a statement from the militant group said.
Hezbollah said it fired two barrages in the central region, around the Lebanese village of Houla, and another further west. Witnesses said Israeli fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft flew as far as the northern port city of Tripoli, breaking the sound barrier over the capital Beirut and swooping low over the eastern Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israeli radio said Hezbollah was firing shells along the border but that they were not directed at Israeli territory.
A UNIFIL spokesman said the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon had asked the Israeli military to respect the UN-drawn frontier, known as the Blue Line. “We are seriously concerned about the large number of overflights that have taken place over Lebanon today,” the spokesman said.
The UN, which has repeatedly warned that Israeli overflights could escalate into a more serious conflict, views both the overflights and Hezbollah’s reaction as violations of the terms of Israel’s pullout. Lebanon has blamed Israel for the escalation, calling the overflights “aerial terrorism.” Israel has said it holds Syria, a Hezbollah backer and Lebanon’s powerbroker, responsible for the group’s operations.
