Israel Intensifies Flights Over Lebanon Border

[Purveyor]

JERUSALEM - Israel intensified controversial military flights over the Lebanon border on Thursday but stressed it wanted no escalation after Israeli and Lebanese soldiers traded fire for the first time in decades.

“We are going to continue our flights and even bolster our aerial activities our Lebanon,” General Alon Friedman told public radio hours after the exchange on the volatile Israeli-Lebanese border.

--SNIP--

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora also ordered his army to respond to any new violation of Lebanese sovereignty.

“Siniora was in contact with the army command... and gave clear orders for the confrontation of any Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty,” the Lebanese National News Agency reported.

--SNIP--

National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel should prepare for a second round of conflict in 2007 with Hezbollah.

“I’m one of those who thinks that even if we don’t want to, between now and the end of the year we will enter a new conflict and it’s better to be prepared,” he told public radio.

Asked if Israel should prepare for a conflict involving not only Hezbollah but Syria, Ben-Eliezer said only that the country should learn from mistakes made during the summer and “rapidly prepare the army” for war.

---END OF EXCERPT--

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2007/February/middleeast_February123.xml

[The Stranger]

1. ". . . and even bolster our aerial activities our Lebanon."

"Our" Lebanon?

Freudian slip often?

[liberalhistorian]

2. I'm sure it was a typo. He probably said

"over Lebanon" and it was accidentally typed as "our." Mistakes like that DO happen, you know.

[liberalhistorian]

3. If they don't "wish to escalate" things, then why are they

sending military flights over Lebanese airspace in a manner that Lebanon may take as provocation, especially after this past summer? Maybe I'm just a dummy, but am I missing something here?

[pelsar]

4. yes you are missing something...

its those overflights, the recon flights that watched where hizballa put their long range missles with the 100 kg warheads that were meant for Tel Aviv...so when the war started they were taken out first thing.

what your "missing" is that since the UN is doing virtually nothing and hizballa is rearming, its obvious that if israel doesnt want larger missiles landing on its cities, it had better watch where hizballa is putting their missiles...and the only way is via recon flights.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. Because Hezbollah is openly rearming and rebuilding and the French lead UNFIL is not doing squat

[liberalhistorian]

6. So, let's just provoke a war with Lebanon and COMPLETELY

destroy the country this time instead of almost destroying it. Gotcha.

[Solo_in_MD]

7. That may well be a good synopsis of the Hezbollah plan...

[Englander]

8. Israeli warplanes fly low over south Lebanon

February 21, 2007

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude over large areas of southern Lebanon on Wednesday, witnesses said.

U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon say Israeli overflights violate Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Israeli warplanes regularly fly over south Lebanon but witnesses said Wednesday's flights, seen from the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon were unusually frequent and at a lower altitude than usual.

Earlier this month the outgoing commander of the U.N. peacekeepers said Israeli warplanes were still flying over southern Lebanon on a daily basis despite appeals for them to halt the missions.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/02/21/israeli_warplanes_fly_low_over_south_lebanon/

[Eugene]

9. Lebanese Army Fire at Israeli Planes (AP)

Lebanese Army Fire at Israeli Planes

By SAM F. GHATTAS
The Associated Press
Wednesday, February 21, 2007; 6:12 AM

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli
warplanes over southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a military
spokesman said, indicating that Lebanon's army is taking a new
assertiveness toward Israel.

The Israeli planes had "violated Lebanese sovereignty, posing a
challenge to U.N. Resolution 1701," the spokesman said, referring
to the Security Council resolution that ended Israel's 34-day war
with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last August.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary for
the Lebanese military in the absence of a formal statement.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli military declined to comment on the
Lebanese statement.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022100298.html

[bemildred]

10. I guess everybody is ready for round two. nt

[Scurrilous]

11. Ashkenazi: IDF may have to confront Hezbollah to halt rearming

<snip>

"Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that Israel may have to confront Hezbollah to halt the militant group's attempts to rearm after last summer's war in Lebanon.

Also Wednesday, Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israel Air Force warplanes near the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre on Wednesday, a Lebanese military spokesman said.

Ashkenazi said Israel delivered a tough blow to Hezbollah during the 34-day war, but the group, and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, are rapidly trying to refortify the militia.

"I think we all understand that ... he (Nasrallah) is not able to do the things that he could do before," Ashkenazi told reporters. "We see here and there smuggling and other things to bring weapons. We are following this and we apparently have to deal with this."

Ashkenazi made the comments while observing a military exercise on the Golan Heights."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/828765.html

[bemildred]

12. I just love fantasy makeovers. nt

[bemildred]

13. Some other bits:

Robert Fisk: Lebanon will be first victim of Iran crisis

How easily the sparks from the American-Israeli fire fall across the Middle East. Every threat, every intransigence uttered in Washington and Tehran now burns a little bit more of Lebanon. It is not by chance that the UN forces in the south of the country now face growing suspicion among the Shia Muslims who live there. It is no coincidence that Israel thunders that the Hizbollah are now more powerful than they were before last year's July war. It is not an accident that Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah's leader, says he has brought more missiles into Lebanon.

Why, the Lebanese ask, did President Bashar al-Assad of Syria visit President Ahmadinejad of Iran last weekend? To further seal their "brotherly" relations? Or to plan a new war with Israel in Lebanon?

The images of Iran's new missile launches during three days of military manoeuvres - apparently long-range rockets which could be fired at US warships in the Gulf - were splashed across the Beirut papers yesterday morning, along with Washington's latest threats of air strikes against Iran's military. Be certain that the Lebanese will be the first to suffer.

For the West, the crisis in Lebanon - where Hizbollah and its allies are still demanding the resignation of Fouad Siniora's government - is getting more serious by the hour. Up to 20,000 UN troops - including Nato battalions of Spanish, French and Italian forces - are now billeted across the hillsides of southern Lebanon, in the very battleground upon which the Israelis and the Hizbollah are threatening to fight each other again.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2290044.ece

Eisenkot: Hezbollah far from restored

Vice Premier Shimon Peres toured the northern border yesterday with GOC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot. "Hezbollah took a major blow in the war and is far from returning to its previous condition," Eisenkot said.

Peres was briefed by Eisenkot before joining him on a patrol of the eastern sector of the border, near Misgav, Metula, the ascent to Har Dov and the Tulip outpost. They stopped to look at the deployment of United Nations and Lebanese soldiers on the other side of the border. Peres asked for information about Hezbollah's deployment and rearmament efforts since last summer's war.

Peres said he was aware that weapons were being smuggled to Hezbollah, "but having arms isn't the same as having power," the vice premier said. "The problem isn't the weapons, it's how Hezbollah is being directed."

Eisenkot said that although the situation is not a simple one, it has changed for the better since the war. "Hezbollah positions that were once deployed along the border have been destroyed, the Lebanese Army and UN forces are deployed throughout the border area in South Lebanon. Israel is exercising its sovereignty down to the last meter," Eisenkot said.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/828422.html

[The Magistrate]

14. A Useful Analysis, Sir

There is an article in the current "Harper's" on Mr. Jumblatt of the Druse you would doubtless find very interesting in this connection.

[bemildred]

15. March I presume?

Hasn't showed up here yet. The article on counter-insurgency warfare in February was interesting in a "Haven't we been over this before?" sort of way, and for it's mention of Petraeus.

I remain surprised that everybody seems ready to warm up the engines already, it seems that politics trumps all again.

[pelsar]

16. I'm not....

nothing was really solved, that was just "foreplay"......a change was started but the repercussions are just now getting underway. A new israeli chief of staff, has to show what hes "made of"..and its not "high tech"... Hizballa has their own agenda with iran, how they're doing is anybodys guess, syria?....

not to mention the druz, christians, and all the others that have a piece of lebanon....

[bemildred]

17. Wars don't solve things, wars "bring clarity".

There is no reason that I can see to think a second round will go better than the first, and a number of reasons to think it will go worse.

[pelsar]

19. long term consequences of wars....

are never know (classic example being israelis 67 victory.....) even that ones not over yet. Given the "players" involved and the fact that there will be no clear cut victory in the next round either, i tend to agree.

[bemildred]

22. Uncertainty is all the more reason to be prudent and avoid careless error. nt

[The Magistrate]

21. Yes, Sir, The March Issue

Mr. Lutwack's article in the February is a good one: its closing gist that you cannot have an empire like the Romans unless you do as the Romans did has been one of my catch-phrases for years. There are ends that require particular means, and if you are not prepared and willing to employ those means, you had best not desire that end....

[bemildred]

23. And even if you do desire those ends, and employ those means,

it's still a risky business. There are not many peers to Rome.

I'll read Mr. Lutwack.

[The Magistrate]

24. True Enough, Sir

Doing it right does not gaurantee success: it is more an opening pair allowing a stake to be placed on the table....

The gentleman, whose name I may have mis-spelled, is a clear-eyed and cold-blooded man, who will not be liked by all here, but who is in my view an excellent analyst of matters that touch on the operations of ruthless people on whatever sphere.

[bemildred]

25. Thank you Sir, Mr. Luttwak 's analysis was indeed very good.

A fair hand at prose too.

I hope to get to March later today.

[bemildred]

26. I have just read through Glass' piece on Jumblatt and Lebanese politics.

It happens I have been reading Anna Comnena's "Alexiad", and the amoral struggle for position in political affairs has a certain similarity of impression, the trading of friends for enemies and enemies for friends, as whim and expediency dictate. I suppose we don't put defeated enemies eyes out these days, we just blow them up, get right to the point. A too expedient approach to political affairs does seem to have it's drawbacks, although loyalty can get you just as dead, at times.

I thought the prior piece on "Parties of God" was informative too, and better written, without meaning to criticize Mr. Glass.

[breakaleg]

18. Lebanon has every right to respond when their airspace is invaded.

[pelsar]

20. its ok...

i and probably almost every israeli wants the IAF to know where the missiles are......we might live longer that way.....