Israeli warplanes on Wednesday flew over Lebanese territory near the disputed Shabaa Farms area, witnesses told Reuters.
A Reuters correspondent also saw Israeli helicopters fly low over the front line separating Lebanon from Shabaa Farms, a strip of land occupied by Israel and claimed by Lebanon.
The Islamic resistance movement, Hizbollah, which is waging a low-intensity war to drive Israel from Shabaa, killed an Israeli soldier there last month, prompting an Israeli attack on a Syrian target deep inside Lebanon.
The United Nations says Shabaa is Syrian territory occupied by Israel, and that Hizbollah has no right to attack the area.
The Lebanese and Syrians say that the area was given to Lebanon by Damascus, but Israel insists that the issue must be settled within Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations, which reached a deadlock in December 1999.
The Israeli air incursions into Lebanon have been reported more than once recently, especially after their attack on the Syrian radar post, in which at least one Syrian serviceman was killed.
Lebanon has officially complained of Israeli violations of its airspace.
For its part, Hizbollah has frequently reiterated that the fight against Israel will continue as long as any of the Shabaa Farms remain occupied, “even if the United Nations rules that the ‘Israeli’ entity has indeed implemented Resolution 425,” which called for Israeli pullback from the zone it was occupying in south Lebanon.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon on May 24 last year – Albawaba.com
