Anti-aircraft units of the French UN peacekeeping force took what they called "essential preparatory steps" when Israel Air Force jets flew low over south Lebanon on Friday, a spokesman said.

No hostile action from either side was reported in the incident, which was the second time in three weeks that French forces have come close to firing on Israeli aircraft over flying Lebanon.

Milos Strugar, senior adviser to the UN force commander, said the French acted when two IAF F-15 fighters flew over the UN positions at low altitude and high speed.

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At the same time, two IAF reconnaissance aircraft were circling over the headquarters of the French battalion in Jabal Maroun.

"The anti-aircraft unit of the battalion took essential preparatory steps to respond to these actions in accordance with UNIFIL rules of engagement and UN Security Council resolution 1701, which allow for force to be used in self-defense," Strugar said.

Strugar would not say whether French anti-aircraft missiles locked on to the IAF planes or were about to open fire.

But he said that the UN force commander, Major General Alain Pellegrini of France, had "strongly protested to the Israeli authorities and asked them to cease these actions."

In Jerusalem, the Israel Defense Forces declined to comment on the incident.

Pellegrini also reported the incident to UN headquarters in New York.

The French troops are part of a United Nations force mandated to make sure that Hezbollah guerrillas do not use south Lebanon for launching attacks on Israel.

On October 31, Israeli fighter planes nose-dived repeatedly over French
peacekeepers' positions in southern Lebanon, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told the French parliament on November 8 - when the incident became first became public.

"Our troops barely avoided a catastrophe," Alliot-Marie said.

The planes were "in attack position," a spokesman for the French general
staff, Captain Christophe Prazuck, told reporters. French troops responded by readying an anti-aircraft missile, and were seconds away from firing, he said.

Israel has regularly flown its military aircraft over Lebanon to monitor
Hezbollah movements and to stop alleged smuggling of weapons from Syria.

The flights have caused tension with Lebanon and the United Nations, which consider the flights a violation of the August cease-fire agreement.

Israel maintains the flights are necessary to make sure that Hezbollah does not rearm its militia in south Lebanon.

There are currently about 1,000 French peacekeepers in south Lebanon, part of a 10,000-strong force from about 20 countries that seeks to maintain south Lebanon as a weapons-free zone. Along with the Lebanese army, the force is intended to keep Hezbollah guerrillas away from the Israeli border.