Israeli warplanes violate the Lebanese airspace

Israeli warplanes yesterday violated the Lebanese airplanes and flew over the capital Beirut. The Hizbullah party fired its anti aircraft artillery against three raiding warplanes.

The Lebanese police and eye witnesses said that between two to four jets flew at an intermediate altitude over southern Lebanon and continued flying at high altitude over the capital Beirut and Tripoli. The raiding Israeli planes broke the sound barrier over these cities and this resulted to shaking widows of buildings.

In a statement, the Hizbullah party stressed that the defense unit of its military wing intercepted twice the Israeli warplanes which violated the Lebanese airspace over the areas of the central sector, and the western sector in southern Lebanon.

This violation, however, comes at a time when the scale of confrontation between the Palestinians and the Israelis have been intensified and following the call made by the Hizbullah to the Palestinians - to pursue the policy of weapons concerning the occupation following the failed attempt to assassinate Abdul Aziz al-Ranteisi, one of the Hamas leaders.

In February, the UN expressed its concern as the Israeli warplanes has intensified sorties over Lebanon and warned that this will be conducive to the escalation of the situation. The UN has considered these sorties as a violation of the "blue line" set in 2000 following the withdrawal of the Israeli army from South Lebanon.