Israeli Flights Over Lebanon Violate Terms of Truce, U.N. Says

Ongoing flights by Israeli warplanes over Lebanon drew rebukes Tuesday from international and local officials who said the sorties violated this nation’s sovereignty and undermined its government.

A news release issued by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, called Israeli flights over Beirut and southern Lebanon on Monday breaches of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli military officials declined to comment Tuesday on the flyovers, but the government has defended its operations to prevent Hezbollah from replenishing its supply of weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office said an Israeli air and sea blockade of Lebanon would continue until Lebanese and international forces were deployed along the border.

The U.N. considers land or air infringements of the border, dubbed the blue line after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in 2000 after an 18-year presence, as breaks in the cease-fire terms.

“It’s a violation of the blue line, and the Security Council resolution calls upon both parties to fully respect the blue line,” said Maher Nasser, a spokesman for the U.N. in Lebanon.

UNIFIL also said it was investigating reports of a clash Monday between Israeli forces and suspected Hezbollah fighters.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said such violations “endanger the fragile calm” and “undermine the authority of the government of Lebanon.” The U.N.’s staff delivers daily assessments of alleged infringements to the Security Council in New York, Nasser said.

The process of turning control of southern Lebanon over to international and Lebanese forces continued Tuesday. UNIFIL troops are taking over Israeli positions and holding them for a few hours before handing them off to Lebanese soldiers trickling into the region.

U.S. officials hope flooding the south with as many as 15,000 international peacekeepers and 15,000 Lebanese soldiers will neutralize Hezbollah’s military threat against northern Israel.

“Right now there’s a cessation of hostilities, not even a cease-fire,” said a Western diplomat in Beirut who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “So long as we don’t have a resumption of hostilities, the south will be under [Lebanese] government control.”

But questions remain about the loyalties and capabilities of the Lebanese army, largely built and trained by Syria, which maintained a military presence in Lebanon until last year. The military has in the past been given the mandate to protect rather than disrupt the “resistance,” which is how many Lebanese refer to Hezbollah and the smaller groups that grew in southern Lebanon during the Israeli occupation.

“It’s a checkpoint army,” the diplomat said. “They’re not mobile. They have major logistics problems.”

Lebanese officials accused Israel of trying to sabotage the UNIFIL operation with infractions such as the flyovers. One Israeli commando was killed and two were injured over the weekend in an operation in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley that Annan has criticized.

Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk told CNN that such actions “encouraged European countries that had already pledged to send their forces to back the UNIFIL force against doing so.”

Hezbollah has told the Lebanese government that it will abide by the terms of the cease-fire and withhold retaliation.

“We will not fall into traps,” said Ibrahim Moussawi, head of Hezbollah’s Al Manar television station. But he added, “We reserve our right to retaliate at the right time and in the right place.”

The air blockade also rattles Lebanese pride. Commercial flights only fly in and out via Amman, Jordan.

“The whole embargo imposed on Lebanon on the air and sea by Israel is not fair,” said Mohammed Houd, chairman of Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, who denied reports that Israeli security forces were checking planes in Amman.

“There are no special security checks done in Amman,” he said. “Middle East Airlines would never accept that Israelis would investigate our planes.”

Hezbollah saw its strongholds smashed to rubble in the recent fighting. Few Lebanese said they thought Israel was attempting to reignite the war.

“The air show is part of their image,” said Charles Harb, a social psychologist at the American University of Beirut. “Despite all the bravado that is out there, the Israelis did feel the pain. I don’t think they’re willing to jump right back in.”