USA: French Defense Minister Micheke Alliot-Marie says Israeli flights over Lebanon are extremely dangerous

Record ID: 395743

  • Title: USA: French Defense Minister Micheke Alliot-Marie says Israeli flights over Lebanon are extremely dangerous
  • Date: 21st October 2006
  • Summary: (AM) UNITED NATIONS (FILE) (REUTERS)
  • Embargoed: 5th November 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8LN2EW198UI0HWRSD1FK1IP0D
  • Story Text: Israeli military flights over Lebanon are dangerous because they could be taken as hostile acts by coalition forces on the ground, France's Minister of Defense said on Friday (October 20).
    Michele Alliot-Marie told a group of reporters at the United Nations that French-led U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, UNIFIL, could mistake Israeli overflights as hostile acts and retaliate in self-defense. She said that troops on the ground were in possession of ground-to-air missiles.
    "So far, the ground-to-air missiles are only meant for self-protection and self-defense and will not be used in other ways. For the rest, I think that for the first time there is a new resolution, which is a diplomatic action, which should convince Israel that it's against its own interest that these violations of the Lebanese air space are taking place," said Alliot-Marie.
    Fighting between Israel and Lebanon ceased on August 14. The Security Council passed a resolution calling for the end of the 34-day war that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis. Israel contends its overflights do not contradict the resolution which calls for both sides to respect the U.N. boundary known as the Blue Line, drawn by the U.N. after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
    Alliot-Marie said that there have been no reports of Israeli planes in Lebanese air space for the last 48 hours, and warned Israel that it was in its own best interest to stop the flights for good. "It is dangerous first of all because they can be considered hostile by the coalition forces who could be brought to retaliate in self-defense; and it would be a very serious incident. Secondly, we have to see that these violations of the air space make the resolution more fragile. It is felt that they could be elements used as a pretext for some people, so that the resolution is not forced or respected. This is the reason why, it seems to us, necessary that these violations of the air space stop," said Alliot-Marie.
    Moving from Lebanon to Iran, Alliot-Marie said that France was still hoping to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue if Iran would commit to diplomatic system.scripts.WORLD1 OUT-PUTnegotiations. She said that France would be willing to suspend the drive to impose Security Council sanctions on Iran if it took positive steps toward resolving questions over its disputed nuclear program.
    "If Iran does display goodwill, France and France's partners are ready to suspend the procedure in front of the Security Council. The only condition is that there are indeed steps forward," said Alliot-Marie.
    Iran failed to meet a demand to halt uranium enrichment, a process the West believes Tehran is developing to build bombs. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad renewed his country's call on Thursday for talks to resolve a nuclear standoff with the West but said it would not retreat from its right to develop the nuclear fuel cycle.
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