Posted on 11/11/2006 9:57:33 AM PST by mojito
The head of the French-led UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon called on Israel to cease its "dangerous" mock air raids, but said Israel has said the flights would continue as long as two kidnapped Israeli soldiers were not freed.
Incidents have been avoided only because of French military restraint, Gen. Alain Pellegrini said in an interview on the Internet site of the French conservative daily Le Figaro on Friday.
"I call on Israel to end them," he said of the flights over southern Lebanon, where UN peacekeepers and Lebanese troops have been stationed since the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah militants. "I have a hard time understanding them ... This is dangerous."
The overflights "could give the Hizbullah an occasion to react," Pellegrini was quoted as saying.
Asked if he excluded use of force against either party in the conflict, the general said: "No. I don't exclude it."
The French government demanded that Israel stop the raids after French peacekeepers came within seconds of shooting down Israeli warplanes less than two weeks ago. Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said a near-catastrophe was avoided.
"At the end of October, we just escaped an incident when French soldiers felt threatened," Pellegrini reportedly said. "They have to assure their self-defense."
"There is a difference between the overflight of a plane at 5,000 meters altitude and an aircraft that goes into a quasi-attack configuration," he was quoted as saying. "If we avoided an incident, it's because the French military showed great restraint and sang-froid."
On Oct. 31, Israeli F-15 fighter planes nose-dived repeatedly over French peacekeepers' positions in southern Lebanon, the French defense minister said Wednesday.
Israeli officials said the flights were needed to monitor Lebanese compliance with UN demands, and said they were working with the UN peacekeeping force to avoid misunderstandings.
Pellegrini had another version.
"They want to see our activities on the ground and at sea. They don't trust us," he said, according to Le Figaro.
He also said, however, that Israel "told us they will continue overflights as long as they haven't recovered their two soldiers kidnapped by the Hizbullah."
The soldiers' kidnapping sparked the summer war between Israel and Lebanon-based Hizbullah fighters.
Pellegrini said it also appeared that Israel "has information on arms deliveries to Hizbullah via the Syrian-Lebanese border."
"As long as these arms passages continue, they tell us, they will overfly Lebanon," he said. Israel alleges there has been a resurgence in Hizbullah military activity in the south, he said, adding that "for the moment" no such activity has been noted.
An internal Israeli military document says the air force's flights over Lebanon were intended in part to pressure the international community to take action to stop arms smuggling to Hizbullah guerrillas and to release the two abducted soldiers, a senior Defense Ministry official told The Associated Press in Jerusalem a week ago.
Pellegrini, the French head of the peacekeepers, said there were currently 9,500 soldiers in the unit, and that 2,000 more were to arrive by the end of the month or early December.
Incidents[Funeral services for dead French troops] have been avoided only because of French military restraint, Gen. Alain Pellegrini said in an interview on the Internet site of the French conservative daily Le Figaro on Friday.
Solution: IDF kidnap a couple of French soldiers and hold them hostage.
Olmert the idiot should never have let the Jewhating Vichy Islamofascists from France on the scene in the first place.
France is a Nazi country that is changing into an Islamonazi one.
Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...
Trust the frogs? The ones that turned in many jews during WWII?
Duh!
Dear French General...
I don't trust you either.
I could never trust UNIFIL generally and the French in particular.
UN "peacekeepers" have consistently aided and abetted terrorists worldwide, as the price of "looking good" and pretending to be doing something useful.
As an Israeli, I wouldn't trust you as far as I could throw a Russian tank...
"The French government demanded that Israel stop the raids after French peacekeepers came within seconds of shooting down Israeli warplanes less than two weeks ago."
Oh, PLEASE, France-just TRY to shoot down an Israeli plane...pretty please??
What fools-I'm LMAO here!
Doesn't anybody on earth have a spine fer crying out loud!
The US votes in Dems and now we appear as a weaklins, France is just an example of what can happen if we allow it to pass of the poor leadership manipulating its way to power right now on our homeland. We must ferret out any and all ways possible from now on to uncover those achieving power with Islamic ties, we saw what China did to the White house years ago, what will it be like with Islamofacists in the bedroom now?
"UNIFIL Chief: Israel Doesn't Trust Us"
They trust you Frenchie. To surrender at the first shot.
"Incidents have been avoided only because of French military restraint, Gen. Alain Pellegrini said in an interview on the Internet site of the French conservative daily Le Figaro on Friday."
Why wait. Just surrender to the Israelis and get it over with. Why have your soldiers die protecting the Hezzies before you wave the white flag?
UNIFIL Chief: Israel Doesn't Trust Us"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.