Israel continues uprooting trees on Lebanon border after fatal clash

Lebanese army admits firing first after IDF cuts down tree on UN-defined border, in contained conflict that killed five people
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Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 August 2010 09.57 BST Article history
Israeli soldiers use a crane as they cut a tree near the border with Lebanon. Israel and Lebanon each claimed the tree was in its territory. Photograph: Ronith Daher/AP

The Israeli military was uprooting more trees along its border with Lebanon today following yesterday's clash with the Lebanese army that left five people dead.

Operations were "continuing as usual", a spokesman for the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said.

Defence minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio: "We are continuing to operate. It will not be legitimate if they try to disrupt today, and we will have to respond."

Yesterday's clash broke out after the Israeli army cut down a tree on the border.

The Lebanese army admitted that its soldiers opened fire on IDF troops in the confrontation, the most serious along the border since the war between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah four years ago.

In a statement issued to the news agency AFP, a spokesman said: "The Lebanese army opened fire first at Israeli soldiers who entered Lebanese territory ... This constituted defence of our sovereignty and is an absolute right."

Israel continued to insist that its forces did not cross the Blue Line, the UN name for the border. It says an IDF unit was carrying out routine maintenance work to remove a tree obscuring its sight lines into Lebanon – but from Israeli territory – when the firing began.

Unifil, the UN force that monitors the border, today said the tree was in Israeli territory.

An Israeli battalion commander was shot dead, and another officer seriously wounded. In Israeli shelling which followed, three Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were killed.

The IDF claimed that its forces were the subject of a planned ambush, citing the presence of Lebanese media close to the border. "We have reason to believe this was planned in advance," IDF spokeswoman Avital Liebovich said. She added that the initiative could have come from Lebanese army units under the influence of Hezbollah.

Most analysts agreed that the incident was likely to be contained rather than flaring into an ongoing conflict along the tense border.

The dead Israeli soldier, Lt Col Dov Harari, a 45-year-old father of four, was to be buried in the coastal city of Netanya later today.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian militant was killed in an airstrike in Gaza early today. Sharif Abdel Hadi Abbey, 22, died and two others were injured in the strike close to Khan Younis, according to Palestinian souces. The IDF said aircraft had fired at Palestinians approaching the Gaza border fence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/04/lebanon-israel-tree-border-clash