Lebanese army accuses Israel of 17-hour overflights

Report that Israel sent ‘spy’ drones to South Lebanon twice follows repeated claims about IAF jets conducting mock sorties

By ToI Staff 9 February 2013, 2:32 pm

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Illustrative photo of an IDF soldier operating a reconnaissance drone. (photo credit: Tsahi Ben-Ami/Flash90)

Israeli “spy” drones conducted overflights in southern Lebanon twice and returned to Israel, violating Lebanese airspace for over 17 hours, a Lebanese Army Guidance Department spokesman said Saturday in comments quoted by the Lebanese government’s news agency.

The spokesman, who was not named, said the lengthy overflights were not the same as those reported on Friday morning, which were said to have been carried out by Israeli jets.

The report said Israeli fighter planes, accompanied by a reconnaissance drone, flew over Lebanese airspace for three hours overnight Thursday and conducted mock sorties.

Similar incidents of IAF “violation of Lebanese sovereignty and resolution 1701” were reported on Wednesday, when the fighter planes reportedly flew over the Litani River, a natural barrier that marked the northern lines of the IDF presence in Lebanon before Israel’s 2000 withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines.

Since Israel’s reported attack on a weapons convoy carrying advanced weapons from Syria to Lebanon last week, reports of Israeli jets flying over Lebanon have become increasingly common.