Israeli Gunboats Rake Lebanese Fishing Harbors with Machinegun Fire

Well the tensions are on the rise, but is this fair play????? US tax dollars going to Terrorism? Granted, there was a convoy attacked in the Sheb'a farms area of Golan, by Hizballah, but I don't think that targeting commercial boats in the south is very fair. Read it for yourself. I will post more at a later date.



Israeli Gunboats Rake Lebanese Fishing Harbors with Machinegun Fire


Israel's navy gunboats made repeated forays into South Lebanon's territorial waters overnight, raking fishing boats with machine-gun fire in the aftermath of Hizbullah's strike that killed an Israeli officer in the Shabaa farms over the weekend, the Beirut media reported on Wednesday.
Helicopter gunships provided air cover to the maritime incursions that were staged under the glare of parachute flares along the coastal strip stretching from Naqoura right on the borderline with Israel to the southern outskirts of Tyre, 10 miles north of the Jewish state..

There were no reports of casualties or serious damage. But Lebanese fishermen in the targeted area that houses the command headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping force abstained from sailing out to earn their living early Wednesday morning, according to media reports.

An Nahar, which was the first to report the offshore tension, said a buildup of Israeli armor was spotted in the environs of the northern Jewish settlement of Zareit close to the U.N.-drawn blue line on the border of South Lebanon.

Earlier media reports said Israeli army tanks rolled up to hilltop positions facing south Lebanon in the aftermath of Hizbullah's Sunday attack, which provoked an Israeli retaliation of air strikes and field artillery barrages in which a French officer from a U.N. truce observer unit was killed along with a Hizbullah fighter.

The Frenchman, Major Jean-Louis Valet, a father of four children, was given a military sendoff at Beirut airport (as shown in photo). A cedar medal conferred by President Lahoud was pinned to Valet's flag-draped coffin before a French air-force plane carried the body to Paris.

Israel's naval belligerency came a few hours after the U.N. Security Council called on Lebanon, Israel and de facto irregular elements, meaning Hizbullah, to exercise "utmost restraint" to prevent the new wave of hostilities from spinning out of control.

The council statement, read by Argentina's U.N. Ambassador Cesar Mayoral, the current council president, paid tribute to the U.N. victims of the attack, extended sympathy to their families, and demanded respect for the security and safety of all U.N. personnel.

"The members of the Security Council reiterated their call on the parties to fulfill the commitments they have given to respect in its entirety the Blue Line and to exercise the utmost restraint," the statement said. (Naharnet-AP)



Beirut, Updated 12 Jan 05, 09:36