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IDF soldiers in the northern border town of Ghajar (Yaron Kaminsky / Archives)
Last update - 21:07 04/02/2008
Lebanon to lodge UN complaint against Israel for border shooting
By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
Tags: Lebanon, IDF, Hezbollah 

Lebanon's government decided Monday to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council against Israel for a cross-border shooting incident that killed one Lebanese man and wounded another.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora instructed the Lebanese mission at the United Nations in New York to lodge the complaint as a result of the "aggression against the Lebanese lands," his office said.

Israel has acknowledged shooting what it said were people attempting to smuggle heroin and hashish into Israeli-held territory.
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The Lebanese government decided to file the complaint after an investigation made by the Lebanese army and the UN peacekeeping force, the agency said.

A Hezbollah official warned Monday of retaliation for the incident Sunday evening in which Israel Defense Forces troops shot dead a man across the border in southern Lebanon.

Lebanese security officials said one person was killed and another wounded in the incident late Sunday. The IDF said the man and another with him were armed.

Such shootings have been rare since the 2006 Second Lebanon War. "This matter definitely will not pass in a way that the people will remain silent," Haj Hassan said on LBC television Monday. "It is the right of the resistance to respond one day by any means.

Haj Hassan decried the lack of international criticism of the IDF shooting, even though the circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear. He said if the situation had been reversed, with an Israeli killed by fire from Lebanon, "you wouldn't imagine how many condemnations would have been issued ... as if a citizen on our side has no value."

Haj Hassan did not threaten immediate retaliation. However, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in a recent speech that the militant group's patience was wearing thin with what he described as repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese territory.

Naim Qassem, Hezbollah's deputy secretary general, last week threatened that the group would carry out additional kidnappings of IDF soldiers. Qassem also reiterated Hezbollah's stance that it would not give up on a single prisoner it has demanded for exchange with Israel.

IDF: Lebanese men were trying to smuggle drugs

In the Sunday incident, IDF troops opened fire on at least two armed men trying to infiltrate Israel's northern border with Lebanon, killing one and seriously wounding the other.

According to reports, IDF forces began firing on the men when they noticed them trying to cross the border into Israeli territory, in the northern village of Ghajar.

An IDF spokesman said the Lebanese men were attempting to smuggle drugs into Israel. Two bags containing several pounds of heroin and hashish, which were left by the smugglers to the north of Ghajar village were discovered Monday morning during an Israeli search of the area. The bags of drugs were transferred to the Israel Police for further investigation.

The casualties were taken to a hospital in the Lebanese town of Marjayoun, where officials there confirmed they received one body and another person wounded. IDF troops suffered no casualties in the incident.

UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said it was investigating the shooting and urged restraint on both sides of the border. UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said: "UNIFIL has launched an immediate investigation to ascertain the facts, looking into initial allegations of smuggling. "UNIFIL's force commander, Major General Claudio Graziano, is in contact with senior officers on both sides urging them to show maximum restraint," she added.

In November, IDF troops in Ghajar opened fire, slightly injuring one of two men trying to infiltrate Israel. The injured man was carrying a bag of illicit drugs, the IDF said at the time.

There have been others instances along the border since 2006 such as a
shepherd straying and being picked up by the Israelis or the two sides arguing over drainage water, but most of the incidents have been resolved peacefully, with the intervention of the peacekeepers.

The most serious incident involved a shootout between Lebanese army troops and IDF troops in February 2007 at Maroun el-Ras, an area of the border that was not clearly demarcated.

No one was hurt in that incident when Lebanese troops opened fire on an Israeli bulldozer they said had crossed the border fence.

In the last 18 months, since the end of the war, there have been two incidents of Katyusha rockets launched at northern Israel, both at the town of Shlomi. No casualties were reported in either incident.

A point of tension between the two countries continues to be the Israel Air Force's reconnaissance flights over Lebanon and the occasional Lebanese army artillery anti-aircraft fire against the planes.

Until 1967, Ghajar was a Syrian village on the Syrian-Lebanese border. It was captured by Israel when the IDF took the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War. Half of the town is under Israeli control and the other half is in Lebanon.

Related articles:

  • IDF troops kill Lebanese man in cross-border shooting
  • IDF troops open fire, arrest suspected smugglers who infiltrated Israel
  • Lebanon says troops opened fire on IAF planes over south of country
  • Lebanon: Winograd war probe report sets scene for future war
  • Deputy Hezbollah head: We will kidnap more IDF soldiers
  • Study: Israelis feel less secure since end of Second Lebanon War
  • Germany warns Jewish community of terror threat from Lebanon
  • Lebanon newspaper says it has photos of IDF soldiers' remains
  • UNIFIL confirms Israel's version: IDF troops didn't enter Lebanon
  • 3 men hurt while rescuing shepherd from S. Lebanon minefield
  • Haaretz.com TV: A village divided
  • Ghajar residents protest decision to divide the border village
  • Ministers approve IDF withdrawal from Lebanese side of Ghajar
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      1.   WHy doesn`t Hesballa controll its gunmen&stop trying to infiltrte 13:01  |  PETER SM 04/02/08
      2.   Hizbollocks, testing Israel·s security... 13:45  |  Stephen. 04/02/08
      3.   #2 Whosebollocks? 14:12  |  chris 04/02/08
      4.   Ridiculous Retaliation 14:49  |  The Archives 04/02/08
      5.   Hezbollah is bunch of crap...Let them talk all they 14:54  |  bn 04/02/08
      6.   # 4 The Taliban is financed by heroin 14:59  |  Petra 04/02/08
      7.   # 3. That is quite correct. 15:16  |  Stephen. 04/02/08
      8.   Hezbollah warns Israel? 15:16  |  Brod 04/02/08
      9.   # 6 Petra. So are the FARC of Colombia. 15:20  |  Stephen. 04/02/08
      10.   Hebz`allah is nothing, it lost in Lebanon 15:26  |  Petra 04/02/08
      11.   Drug smugglers not exactly innocent 15:46  |  Arab All The Way 04/02/08
      12.   to chris from munich 16:17  |  Rory 04/02/08
      13.   teh end of israel 16:19  |  nassrullah 04/02/08
      14.   Something doesn`t fit here 16:38  |  Fortuna Benmayor 04/02/08
      15.   Go ahead, Make Israel`s Day 16:46  |  Rudy 04/02/08
      16.   #13, freedom fighters? freedom from who? 16:48  |  Rudy 04/02/08
      17.   ROY 16:58  |  Imad 04/02/08
      18.   Hassan says 16:59  |  William 04/02/08
      19.   couple of funny things hap`d betwn isr and 17:05  |  bozhidar bob balkas 04/02/08
      20.   to # 16 17:36  |  nassrallah 04/02/08
      21.   I don`t think Hizballa understands Ashkenzai appointment 17:45  |  Golantchik shel paam 04/02/08
      22.   An arab cittizen has no value...if 18:18  |  Mordo 04/02/08
      23.   Hezbullies, accuse Unifil of letting them through 18:34  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 04/02/08
      24.   hussy will burn 19:01  |  frenz 04/02/08
      25.   to number 15 19:38  |  lebanon 04/02/08
      26.   Hezbollah warns Israel 19:41  |  Galvin Templar 04/02/08
      27.   How convinient 20:12  |  Britman 04/02/08
      28.   Chose War 20:25  |  Bitin Dawg 04/02/08
      29.   # 14. Fortuna Benmayor..... 20:46  |  Stephen. 04/02/08
      30.   Vaporize our enemies! 21:15  |  Simon 04/02/08
      31.   Go complain Lebanon... I hope Israel kick your asses hard and 21:48  |  ---) 04/02/08
      32.   This is a riot 22:37  |  bytheway 04/02/08
      33.   Israel continues to murder Lebanese in Lebanese territory 22:58  |  peacelover 04/02/08
      34.   #10 Say Petra 23:07  |  ballistic 04/02/08
      35.   #12 Rory 23:09  |  chris 04/02/08
      36.   #33 Peacelover 23:44  |  ballistic 04/02/08
      37.   Apalling Twist of Logic 23:57  |  SearchForNuance 04/02/08
      38.   Complain, cry, poor us same old crap. 00:34  |  Ken 05/02/08
      39.   Arabs Bank Invalid Complains At the UN as Savings , 00:37  |  Joseph . E 05/02/08
      40.   Zionist fairy tales, they aren`t very good at it either. 01:08  |  Gemayel 05/02/08
      41.   peacelover #33 01:13  |  Gee 05/02/08
      42.   #33 peacelover 01:24  |  * BEN JABO 05/02/08
      43.   To those protesting the killing of the Drug Smuggers 01:26  |  * BEN JABO 05/02/08
      44.   The girl who can`t dance says the band can`t play ,same 01:47  |  IL supporter 05/02/08
      45.   #37 Appalling lack of understanding 01:47  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      46.   UN EAsyTo GEt Tickets 01:49  |  TOBIA 05/02/08
      47.   Johnboy #39 02:27  |  Gee 05/02/08
      48.   #46 That so, Gee????? 03:05  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      49.   #42 *BEN JABO so loves his straw men 03:17  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      50.   Arab fairy tales - #40 Gemayel 03:54  |  William 05/02/08
      51.   News from Lebanon...another Arab attack on Israel 03:58  |  William 05/02/08
      52.   Johnboy#48 - maybe it`s the news you read 04:09  |  William 05/02/08
      53.   Go ahead Lebanon, help the UN become even more illegitimate... 04:41  |  mea too 05/02/08
      54.   #52 Maybe its the propaganda you swallow whole, William 06:59  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      55.   #36, ballistic... 07:45  |  Silvienne 05/02/08
      56.   #1, PETER SM, why doesn`t israel control the idf 07:46  |  VIPER 05/02/08
      57.   #10, PETRA, IN HER OWN LITTLE WORLD 07:48  |  VIPER 05/02/08
      58.   Johnboy you are frothing from your mouth 08:11  |  Dan 05/02/08
      59.   #58 More from Dan Dan the Propaganda Man 13:51  |  Johnboy 05/02/08
      60.   Airspace and Useless Nations 19:00  |  global observer 05/02/08
      61.   stfu 21:15  |  frenz 05/02/08
      62.   #56 VIPER - You reall are a dullard 21:41  |  * BEN JABO 05/02/08
      63.   #57 VIPER to Petra 21:45  |  * BEN JABO 05/02/08
      64.   it is true hezbollah is mor power 13:21  |  x men 06/02/08
      65.   #57, VIPER...to Petra 08:01  |  Silvienne 07/02/08
      66.   Johnboy to Dan The Propaganda Man... 08:04  |  Silvienne 07/02/08
      67.   Johnboy to Dan The Propaganda Man... 08:04  |  Silvienne 07/02/08
      68.   #65 Of course, Silvienne 09:22