Israeli personnel crossed a few meters into Lebanese territory under the watchful gaze of UN peacekeepers yesterday to recover a military bulldozer hit by a Hezbollah rocket that killed one soldier and seriously wounded another.
Four Israelis in civilian clothes attached a tow line from the bulldozer to a vehicle parked on the Israeli side of the border as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stepped up its patrols of adjacent sections of the frontier.
Israeli military sources had initially insisted that the rocket struck south of the border fence, although army radio later confirmed that the bulldozer had strayed into Lebanese territory.
The Tel Aviv daily Haaretz said the vehicle had been clearing a minefield on the frontier, to which Israel withdrew when it ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in May, 2000.
The attack by the Shiite Muslim militant group came amid renewed tension on the border, as Israel rebuffed peace overtures from Syria, the dominant power in Lebanon.
UNIFIL reported Israeli aircraft had violated Lebanese airspace 10 times during the day, in the first such intrusions in a fortnight.
"The United Nations expresses its dismay regarding the large number of Israeli air violations of the Blue Line [UN border demarcation] on 19 January," said UN representative Staffan de Mistura.
"Today's numerous overflights and anti-aircraft fire have disrupted some apparent restraint over the past two weeks in which no Israeli air violations were recorded and a longer period with no Hezbollah anti-aircraft fire," he said.
"The UN reiterates its call upon the Israeli authorities to cease its continuing air violations of the line of withdrawal and Lebanese airspace."
Despite the revelation that the Israeli soldiers had strayed across the frontier, the commander of Israel's northern region, General Benny Gantz, warned that the Hezbollah attack would not go unpunished.
"Those who are on the northern side of the border would do well to be worried," he told reporters, charging that both the Lebanese government and its Syrian patron were "allowing Hezbollah to act at the border."
In what was seen by Israeli MPs as a firm rebuff to Syrian peace overtures in recent weeks, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committee earlier on Monday that any resumption of peace talks would ultimately force a pullout from the occupied Golan Heights.
The hawkish premier has frequently rejected the idea of withdrawing from the strategic plateau which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and unilaterally annexed 14 years later.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS