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IAF drops flares over southern Lebanon coast after news of Hezbollah exercise
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
tags: Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanon 

Israel Air Force warplanes dropped flares over the southern Lebanon coast Monday, hours after Hezbollah officials confirmed that militants from the group had carried out tactical maneuvers near Lebanon's border with Israel.

A pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper reported Monday that thousands of guerrillas had staged the group's largest-ever military maneuvers near Israel's border in southern Lebanon, but Prime Minister Fuad Saniora later said the reported exercise was probably just a simulation.

Hezbollah initially declined to comment, but later Monday, a senior member confirmed the maneuvers, saying they were intended to counter Israeli activity.
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"In response to what the enemy is doing, this maneuver by the Islamic resistance [Hezbollah] was part of its ... work and its commitment to always defend Lebanon, its sovereignty and its people," said Sheik Hassan Izzedine, a senior Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon. He spoke on local al-Jadeed television.

Al-Akhbar, a pro-Hezbollah newspaper, had reported Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah personally supervised the maneuvers, which it said were carried out in the last three days and were the biggest ever staged on Israel's border by the Shiite Muslim militant group.

Monday's report marked the first time Hezbollah, with its highly secretive military wing, revealed such exercises through a close newspaper. The maneuvers, if confirmed, could pose a major challenge to a UN-brokered cease-fire that ended last year's war with Israel.

However, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said authorities checked with military and police units as well as UN peacekeepers and they confirmed nothing on the ground really happened.

"It was, let's say, a simulation probably, in an operation room, on the desk, probably they did such a thing, he said, speaking to Associated Press Television News at government headquarters. "This has been confirmed by all the sources."

Hezbollah legislator, Hassan Fadlallah, said earlier Monday that it was only natural that the group be fully ready to confront any possible Israeli attack.

"Clearly, we will not let Israel carry out aggression against Lebanon and we sit still," he told Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television, referring to the increased Israeli military flights over southern Lebanon in recent days.

The alleged maneuvers came a few days after Israel held major military
exercises in the north of the country near the Lebanese border. The IDF
action was interpreted by some Lebanese media as preparation by Israel for a possible new war with Hezbollah.

Al-Akhbar said the Hezbollah maneuvers were carried out south of the Litani River in southern Lebanon and aimed at deterring the enemy from carrying out any adventure in Lebanon. The zone has been controlled by a UN peacekeeping force and the Lebanese army since last year's war.

"A state of Israeli alertness is countered by extraordinary movement by the resistance (Hezbollah)," read a front-page headline Monday in As-Safir, another newspaper close to Hezbollah. It quoted witnesses in southern Lebanon as saying they observed unusual movement by Hezbollah for the first time since last year's war, but gave no further details.

There was no immediate comment from officials of the UN peacekeeping force, which has 13,500 soldiers who patrol a buffer zone near the border with Israel with the help of 15,000 Lebanese troops.

But As-Safir quoted Major General Claudio Graziano, the commander of the UNInterim Force in Lebanon as warning Lebanese leaders he met in Beirut last week that the tension in the south and a deepening political crisis in the country might prompt European countries to withdraw from UNIFIL within less than four months.

Italy, France, Spain and Germany form the bulk of the reinforced UN force
that deployed in southern Lebanon after last year's war.

Al-Akhbar said Hezbollah's maneuvers were carried out all along the border with Israel in extreme secrecy without any show of arms.

The newspaper quoted Nasrallah as telling the participants that the maneuvers were intended for foe and friend to make them understand that the resistance (Hezbollah) is fully ready to confront any kinds of Israeli threats.

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      1.   Good advice for Israel 09:40  |  Clickfool 05/11/07
      2.   Major General Moshe Kaplinsky is day 09:44  |  Khalil Abo Mohammad 05/11/07
      3.   Just change two words and the result is 09:57  |  Khalil Abo Mohammad 05/11/07
      4.   HOW DO YOU KNOW IT HAARETZ? 09:57  |  indrajaya 05/11/07
      5.   military training 10:00  |  David 05/11/07
      6.   Israeli general: "Wait until next time!" 10:15  |  Natallie Durson 05/11/07
      7.   CONGRATULATIONS UN living up to their reputation.Useless! Rwanda, 10:16  |  PETER SM 05/11/07
      8.   Hezbollah training for a rematch 10:41  |  R.Aketer 05/11/07
      9.   If everybody knew about it, why was it `pulled off`? 10:52  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 05/11/07
      10.   Thousands of Hezbollah in target range. 11:04  |  Stephen. 05/11/07
      11.   whats so secret? 11:08  |  fadi 05/11/07
      12.   THEY STRONGER THAN ANY1 THINK 11:14  |  KATYOUSHAH 05/11/07
      13.   For Stephen, posting from the safety of Switzerland # 3 11:18  |  Clickfool 05/11/07
      14.   whats so secret??? 11:20  |  fadi 05/11/07
      15.   TO R AKETER and stephen 11:20  |  SARAH 05/11/07
      16.   the fool #1# Nasty Cluster Bomb Located In Sussex 11:34  |  G.Fawkes 05/11/07
      17.   natallie durson remember nasrallah`s words on august 2nd 11:39  |  harzion 05/11/07
      18.   natallie durson nasrallah`s words again 11:42  |  harzion 05/11/07
      19.   goodluck with the ground excursion 11:43  |  fadi 05/11/07
      20.   and natallie durson siniora`s words to the italian newspaper 11:45  |  harzion 05/11/07
      21.   Lebanese are calling for war again, they love war 11:46  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07
      22.   natallie durson and the score is 11:47  |  harzion 05/11/07
      23.   3 gay men running and skipping shouting death to Israel 11:50  |  Levi 05/11/07
      24.   natallie durson did i mention dahaiya 11:50  |  harzion 05/11/07
      25.   Leb government and Al-Hezb are like couple 11:50  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07
      26.   To Clickfool 11:51  |  dovale 05/11/07
      27.   natallie durson and of course the hammering of the beqaa valley 11:52  |  harzion 05/11/07
      28.   intelligence??, IDF??, Israel?? 11:53  |  Imad 05/11/07
      29.   natallie durson the only country in the world with no bridges 11:54  |  harzion 05/11/07
      30.   so natallie durson when the general said "next time" 11:57  |  harson 05/11/07
      31.   imad a povert stricken nation telling an advanced state 12:03  |  harzion 05/11/07
      32.   Clickfool 12:03  |  dovale 05/11/07
      33.   tamer 12:03  |  SARAH 05/11/07
      34.   Clickfool 12:04  |  Israeli 05/11/07
      35.   clickfool the bore there you go again 12:05  |  brighton rock 05/11/07
      36.   harson..tellin it how it is huh... 12:06  |  fadi 05/11/07
      37.   Tamir 12:08  |  Neighbor 05/11/07
      38.   #5 David - Syria not Lebanon 12:12  |  Shlomo 05/11/07
      39.   natallie durson did you the change in nasrallah`s lifestyle? 12:13  |  harzion 05/11/07
      40.   fadi of sudbury a nickel for your thoughts 12:21  |  harzion 05/11/07
      41.   To Sarah 12:24  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07
      42.   HEZBOLLAH WAS JUST LIKE ISRAEL AT 1967 12:26  |  indrajaya 05/11/07
      43.   Neighbor, please be logic ok 12:28  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07
      44.   Neighbor, It seems to me you are in love with a Lebanese person? 12:29  |  Tamir Palestine 05/11/07
      45.   Hizbullah and Hamas preparing for Iran 12:30  |  Jonathan S 05/11/07
      46.   #40 Harzion 12:32  |  Paul Wood 05/11/07
      47.   HEZBOLLAH WAS JUST LIKE ISRAEL AT 1967 12:34  |  indrajaya 05/11/07
      48.   HEY WAIT I THOUGHT THE UN WAS THERE.... 12:35  |  THE LIBRARIAN 05/11/07
      49.   Mountains of Clickfool. 12:35  |  Stephen. 05/11/07
      50.   To Levi 12:38  |  Ahmed 05/11/07
      51.   TO TAMER 12:39  |  SARAH 05/11/07
      52.   TO TAMER 12:42  |  sou 05/11/07
      53.   to the phd professor tamer from israel #41 12:46  |  sweden.m 05/11/07
      54.   TO TAMER AND NEIHBOUR 12:49  |  MAYA 05/11/07
      55.   good one harzion 13:00  |  fadi 05/11/07
      56.   NOW THE IDF WILL BE A SITTING DUCK 13:04  |  VIPER 05/11/07
      57.   #3 we`ll see, our G-d sustains ISRAEL and US 13:05  |  Petra 05/11/07
      58.   Lebanese wants to free Lebanon through Palestine and Israel 13:06  |  Pal Christian 05/11/07
      59.   #4 Exercises of thousands are obvious 13:07  |  Petra 05/11/07
      60.   #4, indrajaya, DID YOU WORK IT OUT YOURSELF? 13:10  |  VIPER 05/11/07
      61.   Hizbolla`s going to drag Lebanon into another war 13:11  |  Conroy 05/11/07
      62.   #6 NUT A LEE 13:14  |  Petra 05/11/07
      63.   CHIITES OF LEBANESE ARMY AND MOSLEM OF UNIFIL ARE HEZBOLLAH SUPPO 13:17  |  NAD 05/11/07
      64.   to indrajaya 13:17  |  dovale 05/11/07
      65.   SARAH ISRAEL DIDN`T LOSE LEBANON DID 13:20  |  Petra 05/11/07
      66.   Has the UN given up on the enforcement of UN Security 13:21  |  Dan Yakir 05/11/07
      67.   THANKS BOOBALA!! REMIND THEM AGAIN. 13:21  |  Petra 05/11/07
      68.   #46 Paul Wood 13:23  |  Hastaroth 05/11/07
      69.   #18 Harizon THANKS FOR REMINDING US. 13:25  |  Petra 05/11/07
      70.   FADI DREAM ON YOU BEGGED FOR A CEASE FIRE LAST TIME 13:27  |  Petra 05/11/07
      71.   #23 LEVI lol right on!! 13:37  |  Petra 05/11/07
      72.   tAMIR, you`re right!!!! 13:41  |  Petra 05/11/07
      73.   A fine joke 13:43  |  Mark Lincoln 05/11/07
      74.   Tamir Palestine 13:45  |  Lynn 05/11/07
      75.   Hezballah 13:46  |  Aklas 05/11/07
      76.   Maybe i`m slow 13:56  |  Outsider 05/11/07
      77.   #65 Hastaroth 13:56  |  Paul Wood 05/11/07
      78.   # 2 Kahlil 13:57  |  Lynn 05/11/07
      79.