Israeli Warplanes Patrol Syrian Border With Lebanon

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Israeli warplanes roared over Lebanon’s northern Mediterranean coast and along its border with Syria yesterday, after the Lebanese defense minister warned rogue Palestinian Arab rocket teams against attacking Israel and provoking retaliation that could unravel an already shaky cease-fire.

Israeli troops shot and wounded two Hezbollah guerrillas yesterday during a clash in southern Lebanon, the army said, underscoring the fragility of the week-old truce.

The army said the soldiers opened fire after guerrillas approached the force in a “threatening manner.” It identified hitting two of the three militants in the group.

With concern mounting over the fragile truce, Israel sent warplanes yesterday over the coastal city of Tripoli, some 35 miles north of Beirut, and over Baalbek, scene of an Israeli commando raid two days ago, which Israel said was to disrupt weapons shipments for Hezbollah from Syria.

Lebanon considers overflights a violation of the U.N. resolution that ended 34 days of fighting last week.

Defense Minister Elias Murr said he was confident that Hezbollah would hold its fire but warned Syrian-backed Palestinian Arab militants against rocket attacks that might draw Israeli retaliation and reignite full-scale fighting.

“We consider that when the resistance [Hezbollah] is committed not to fire rockets, then any rocket that is fired from the Lebanese territory would be considered collaboration with Israel to provide a pretext [for Israel] to strike,” he said.

In Lebanon, Prime Minister Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a Shiite and Hezbollah supporter, decried the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs as “crimes against humanity” during a highly publicized tour of the devastated guerrilla stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs on Sunday.

“What we see today is an image of the crimes Israel has committed. … There is no other description other than a criminal act that shows Israel’s hatred to destroy Lebanon and its unity,” Mr. Siniora said to a big crowd of reporters and television crews invited on the tour of the region where Israeli airstrikes destroyed whole neighborhoods.

“I hope the international media transmits this picture to every person in the world so that it shows this criminal act, this crime against humanity,” the Western-backed prime minister said.

Arab League foreign ministers convened for an emergency meeting in Cairo to discuss a plan to create a fund to rebuild Lebanon.The meeting ended with no plan, but foreign ministers said a social and economic council would convene to discuss how to fund the rebuilding.

Diplomats said Arabs want to counter the flood of money that is believed to be coming to Hezbollah from Iran to finance reconstruction projects. An estimated 15,000 apartments were destroyed and 140 bridges hit by Israeli bombardment in Lebanon, along with power and desalination plants and other key infrastructure.

“This is a war over the hearts and mind of the Lebanese, which Arabs should not lose to the Iranians this time,” a senior Arab League official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the press.

Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has not said where the money would come from, but Iran, which helped create Hezbollah and is its strongest supporter, is widely believed to have opened its treasury for the rebuilding program.


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