LEBANON: An Israeli soldier is killed when a Lebanese sniper opens fire in a normally quiet area of the border between the two countries

Record ID: 397950

  • Title: LEBANON: An Israeli soldier is killed when a Lebanese sniper opens fire in a normally quiet area of the border between the two countries
  • Date: 16th December 2013
  • Summary: NAQOURA, LEBANON (DECEMBER 16, 2013) (REUTERS) VIEW OF SOUTHERN LEBANESE CITY OF NAQOURA/MEDITERRANEAN SEA SIGN READING IN ARABIC: MUNICIPALITY OF NAQOURA UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING FORCE HELICOPTER HOVERING ABOVE THE AREA UN PEACEKEEPING POSITION AND BARBED WIRE UN VEHICLES IN THE AREA UN PEACEKEEPERS STANDING AND UN VEHICLE DRIVING MORE OF UN PEACEKEEPERS AND VEHICLES
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Reuters ID: LVA1WQDKIHHGFES3T3QZRNSW49VN
  • Story Text: An Israeli soldier was killed on Sunday (December 15) when a "rogue" Lebanese sniper opened fire in a normally quiet area of the border between the two countries, and a U.N. peacekeeping force said it was working with both sides to keep the incident from escalating.
    Israeli, Lebanese and U.N. military officers were due to meet on Monday (December 16) to defuse tension, Israel's defence minister said.
    The Lebanese soldier went missing after the cross-border shooting, but has now been found, a Lebanese security source said.
    Sunday's incident jarred the relatively stable standoff between the two neighbours, which last saw major hostilities in the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.
    Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in statement that Israel regards "the Lebanese government and the Lebanese army as responsible for what happens on their side".
    He said Israeli and Lebanese liaison officers, along with peacekeepers of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, would meet to clarify the incident. UNIFIL said it was urging restraint.
    Israel said its soldier was driving near the border fence at its westernmost point of Rosh Hanikra when he was shot by a Lebanese army sniper. Israeli troops who searched the frontier area later shot at two Lebanese soldiers who "made suspicious movements", hitting one of them, an army spokeswoman said.
    The Lebanese security source said the Israelis fired into Lebanon during the night, but had caused no casualties.
    Israel has lodged a complaint with UNIFIL, which has been stationed in southern Lebanon since 1978, and said it had heightened its state of preparedness along the border..
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