Al-Manar
4 Lebanese Martyred, 1 Israeli Officer Killed in Odeisseh Clashes 03/08/2010 Four Lebanese were martyred on Tuesday and five others were injured in the Israeli aggression along the Occupied Palestinian- Lebanese border.
Israeli occupation troops exchanged fire on Tuesday with the Lebanese soldiers along the Odeisseh southern village, sparking clashes that left three Lebanese army soldiers and one journalist martyred. The journalist was identified as Assaf Bou Rahhal working for Al-Akhbar daily.
Al-Manar correspondent Ali Shoaib was also lightly injured in the clashes.
Al-Manar TV quoted a security official as saying that a high ranking Israeli officer was killed in the shelling and the occupation forces were trying to pull him out of the Lebanese territories. Another occupation soldier was injured and he is in a critical situation.
"The Israelis fired four shells (from a tank) that fell near a Lebanese army position on the outskirts of the village of Odeisseh and the Lebanese army fired back," a security official in the area told AFP, adding that two houses were damaged by the rockets.
A Lebanese army spokesman said the clashes erupted after Israeli soldiers attempted to uproot a tree on the Lebanese side of the fenced border. "The Israelis began to fire and we responded," he said.
The Israeli army could be heard calling in Arabic for an immediate ceasefire over loudspeakers.
The Israeli occupation foreign ministry held the Lebanese government responsible for the escalation on the border.
United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon called on both sides to exercise "maximum restraint" after the clashes.
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said, "The main priority of the mission at the moment is to restore calm in the area,” adding that the Deputy Force Commander Santi Bonfanti was in contact with the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israeli occupation army command urging for maximum restraint.
AlJezeera:
At least three Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israeli forces during an exchange of rocket and gunfire along the border between the two countries.
A journalist was critically injured and five more Lebanese soldiers wounded in the Israeli shelling on Tuesday, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Lebanon said.
"The Israelis fired four rockets that fell near a Lebanese army position in the village of Adaisseh and the Lebanese army fired back," a Lebanese security official in the area said.
Hezbollah's Al Manar television station said a high-ranking Israeli soldier was also killed in the border incident. The report could not be independently verified.
Lebanese witnesses said that Israeli shells are continuing to hit Adaisseh village.
The clashes erupted after Israeli soldiers reportedly attempted to uproot trees on the Lebanese side of the border.
Roots of conflict
Rula Amin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Lebanon, said that "the Israeli army was coming close to the border to try to uproot some trees ... near the villages of Adaisseh and Kuferkilla and then some tension erupted".
"The Lebanese army was there, it put itself on high alert," she said.
Israeli security sources said that Israeli army engineers came under fire from Lebanese soldiers while working along the frontier and the troops shot back.
Israel said its army engineers came under fire from Lebanese soldiers and shot back [AFP]
In a statement, the Israeli military said its soldiers came under fire while they were "on routine activity in Israeli territory in an area that lies between the blue line (the internationally recognised border between Israel and Lebanon) and the security fence, thus within Israeli territory".
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said "the overall picture that seems to be emerging from Israeli television reports is that the whole incident seems to have started over some misunderstanding".
"There was some kind of Israeli incursion perceived ... to have crossed over into Lebanese territory" which precipitated the exchange of fire, Rowland said.
Israel fought a war in 2006 with Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia based in the country's south.
Israeli TV has reported that Hezbollah was not involved in the latest skirmish.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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