Israeli aircraft violate Lebanese airspace, again

Multiple Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace Wednesday in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which calls for Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty.

The state-run National News Agency reported that the aircraft flew at low altitude over several locations in south Lebanon including Hasbaya, Nabatieh, and the occupied Shebaa Farms.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres in an April 30 report said that such flyovers were “deeply concerning” and that Israeli aircraft made “near daily overflights above Lebanon” between October 2019 and April this year.

Israel often enters Lebanese airspace with the apparent purpose of attacking targets in Syria. In April 2020, an Israeli drone destroyed a vehicle belonging to Hezbollah on the Syrian side of the Syria-Lebanon border, near the Masnaa crossing. There were no casualties.

“The alleged use of Lebanese airspace by the Israel Defense Forces to strike targets in the Syrian Arab Republic is deeply concerning. I renew my call for Israel to adhere to its obligations under relevant Security Council resolutions and immediately cease its overflights above Lebanese airspace,” Guterres said.

Tensions along the southern border have increased in recent weeks following several reported Israeli intrusions into Lebanese territory and Israel’s firing of flares across the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line that separates the two countries.

“Violations, by air and ground, run the risk of triggering an escalation and could jeopardize stability in Lebanon, Israel and beyond,” Guterres added. “They undermine the credibility of the Lebanese security and state institutions and generate anxiety among the civilian population.”

The U.N. chief also took aim at Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal in the same report, calling them a “serious challenge to the state’s ability to exercise full sovereignty and authority over its territory.”