UN warns Israel over airspace violations

1.00pm

NEW YORK - A sharp jump in Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace is threatening the relative calm that has prevailed along the two uneasy neighbours' shared border in recent weeks, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

Six violations were recorded on Tuesday and four on Monday, involving Israeli planes, helicopters and drones, the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon said.

Staffan de Mistura, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's chief envoy in southern Lebanon, "strongly reiterates his call on the Israeli authorities to cease these breaches of the blue line and reminds all parties that one violation cannot justify another," a mission statement said.

The blue line is the troubled UN-drawn frontier between northern Israel and southern Lebanon, which is monitored by the 2000-strong UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL.

Cross-border confrontations between Israeli forces and Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas have occurred regularly since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in May 2000, ending a 22-year occupation.

Annan has regularly warned of the danger such confrontations could quickly escalate into renewed conflict in the volatile Middle East.

The intrusion of Israeli military aircraft into Lebanese airspace is often followed by anti-aircraft fire from Hizbollah fighters that can threaten the lives of nearby Israeli residents.

But in the latest incidents, there were no reports of anti-aircraft fire, the UN statement said.

- REUTERS