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Israeli warplanes in 'incident' with German ship off Lebanon: military
AFP
BERLIN
Petroleumworld.com 10 26 06
Two Israeli warplanes were involved in an armed incident with a German ship patrolling off Lebanon as part of the UN force in the Arab country, the German military told AFP on Wednesday.
A spokesman for the command of the German mission in Lebanon said it was investigating the incident that took place on Monday.
According to Thursday's edition of the Tagesspiegel newpaper, two Israeli F-16 warplanes fired shots as well as anti-missile defence flares while flying low over the German vessel.
The newspaper said the incident had been reported to parliament on Wednesday by a state secretary in the defence ministry, Christian Schmidt.
In Israel, Defence Minister Amir Peretz denied his country's planes had opened fire on a German ship, in a telephone call with German counterpart Franz Josef Jung.
"No Israeli plane opened fire at a German ship and Israel has no intention of attacking the German forces," Peretz said, according to his spokesman.
The defence minister also proposed closer cooperation between the Israeli military and the German naval force to Jung, whom he is due to meet in Israel next week.
An Israeli army spokesman, meanwhile, said two planes had intercepted a helicopter as it entered the Lebanon-Israel border zone off Rosh Hanikra.
"The Israeli planes approached the helicopter which had not identified itself according to the set procedure," he said. But the planes did not open fire and the helicopter turned back and landed on a German ship.
France and the United Nations this week warned Israel that it was endangering the multinational peace mission in Lebanon by sending its fighter planes into Lebanese airspace.
Police in Lebanon have claimed that there were more Israeli flights over their country on Monday than on any other day since the end of the Jewish state's 34-day war with Hezbollah.
Peretz said at the weekend that the flights through Lebanese airspace would continue because of alleged arms smuggling to Hezbollah since the end of the war on August 14.
Germany is heading the naval component of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon but has refused to contribute ground troops in a bid to avoid clashes with Israeli forces because of lingering sensitivities over the Holocaust.
The German press also reported on Thursday that the German navy has been told that their mandate does not allow them to come within six miles (10 kilometres) of the Lebanese coast unless asked to do so by Beirut.
Die Welt and the Sueddeutsche Zeitung dailies said this was decided by Beirut and the United Nations on October 12, citing a document tabled in the German parliament by the defence ministry on Wednesday.
The issue had been the subject of protracted wrangling between Beirut and Berlin before eight German vessels set sail for Lebanon on September 21 with some 1,000 soldiers on board.
The German government said at the time that it had won assurances that its ships would be allowed to search Lebanese waters and to use force if necessary to intercept weapons being smuggled to Hezbollah.
Beirut has argued that German vessels be required to seek for permission from Lebanese authorities before approaching the coast.
Under the mandate agreed to by the UN and Lebanon, the Germans would now have to do so, said the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
It said the UN mandate also stipulated that German soldiers may only set foot on suspect ships or seize material if they were accompanied by Lebanese forces.
AFP 25 1936 GMT 10 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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