IAF Warplanes Enter Deep Into Lebanese Territory

January 31, 2003

BEIRUT - Israeli Airforce warplanes made repeated reconnaissance overflights deep into Lebanon for the second consecutive day Friday, acts that Lebanese officials claim were aimed at escalating soaring Mideast tensions amid U.S. plans to attack Iraq.

Lebanese security officials said two fighter jets on a reconnaissance mission flew over the eastern city of Baalbek, 100 kilometers northeast of Beirut, at medium altitude for several minutes. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Residents in the southeastern town of Hasbaya and the southern town of Marjayoun also reported hearing jets breaking the sound barrier with two sonic booms.

Lebanese Defense Minister Khalil Hrawi said the overflights "show Israel's rejection of the logic of peace," acts that come on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's re-election this week and a UN Security Council decision Thursday to renew the mandate of a 24-year-old peacekeeping force in Lebanon's southern border region with Israel.

Hrawi said the Security Council had urged Israel to stop violating Lebanese skies, adding that Lebanon was confronting the "violations through diplomatic and military means." "Through this tension (Israel) is trying to play a role in the Iraqi crisis. It seeks to be present on the Middle East arena through its military power," he said in an interview with the Voice of Lebanon radio station.

There are fears in both Israel and Lebanon that a U.S.-led war on Iraq over suspicions it possesses weapons of mass destruction could ignite the volatile Lebanon-Israeli front. Israel is a close U.S. ally and shares Washington's desire to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

There were no initial reports of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas firing anti-aircraft weapons at the Israeli jets as has been the case in recent months. Also, there was no comment from Israel on the military activity Friday.

Late Thursday, Israeli warplanes flew over southern Lebanese towns, drawing ground fire from Lebanese troops and guerrillas, security officials and witnesses said. Several planes made medium-altitude sorties over the southern coastal towns of Tyre and Sidon but no bombing raids were reported.

Lebanese army gunners fired anti-aircraft artillery at the planes over Sidon, the provincial capital of southern Lebanon. Palestinian guerrillas in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp on Sidon's outskirts, joined with volleys of automatic fire directed at the jets.

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