LEBANON: Did Hezbollah shoot down Lebanese helicopter?
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
A deadly shooting Thursday of a military helicopter in southern Lebanon by unidentified gunmen raised fears of tensions erupting between this country’s army and Hezbollah.
The Lebanese Shiite militant group, which is believed to control the zone of the shooting, commented on the incident today, but didn’t claim responsibility for it. A statement issued by the group said:
The shooting yesterday ... is a sad and painful incident that involves certain circumstances which will be revealed through investigation, God willing. ... Hezbollah will fully cooperate with the brothers in the Lebanese army as well as with concerned judicial authorities to bring out the truth and guarantee justice.
But a flurry of reports in Lebanese local newspapers and comments by politicians earlier indicated that Hezbollah’s fighters were responsible for the shooting, which resulted in the killing of one lieutenant, either “by mistake” or purposely to send a message to the military.
The shooting took place near the area where thousands of United Nations peacekeeping troops are deployed to help guarantee security along the border with Israel.
The army said in a statement that one of its helicopters came under fire without identifying the assailants:
While a Lebanese Armed Forces military helicopter was conducting a training mission over the area of Iklim El Toufah it came under fire shot by armed gunmen and the crew was forced to make an emergency landing over the hill of Soujoud and as a result of the incident the helicopter was damaged and 1st Lt. pilot Samer Hanna martyred.
According to a local newspaper, Assafir, the shooting took place ...
... “by mistake” and was apparently the result of “faulty coordination between the army and the resistance [i.e. Hezbollah] ... and the state of tension in the ranks of the resistance caused by intensified Israeli over-flights in the past days.’
The newspaper, which supports Hezbollah’s positions, said that the group’s fighters might have fired at the chopper when they suspected “a commando Israeli operation was underway.” Assafir described the site of the incident as one of Hezbollah’s “most important zones of presence.”
But members of the Lebanese Western-backed political group opposed to Hezbollah’s military role quickly accused the militant group of trying to limit the army’s activities in the South.
Fares Souaid, a supporter of the pro-U.S. March 14 coalition, made fiery comments against Hezbollah on Thursday:
Is it the process of demarcating borders between the state of Lebanon and the Hizbullah state? Did Hizbullah try to set a red line for the Lebanese Army on Lebanese territories? ... I find it strange that the Lebanese Army is in a position to ask for permission if it wanted to carry out any assignment on Lebanese territory.
Souaid spoke at a news conference after his meeting with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Hale.
The online news service, NOW Lebanon, which supports Hezbollah’s disarming, said that the militant group was aware that the military was conducting a training drill in the South in cooperation with U.N. soldiers:
Inside sources tell NOW Lebanon that Hezbollah fighters shot at the military helicopter because it crossed certain “red lines” Hezbollah had stipulated to the Defense Ministry and Army Command. The source added that the area is considered highly sensitive because it houses part of the Resistance’s telecommunications apparatus.
The attack came as the Lebanese Cabinet is expected today to appoint a new army chief amid disputes over the successor of Michel Suleiman, who was elected as president following internal violence last May.
The army was the target of several attacks in recent months. Two weeks ago, a bomb targeted a bus carrying mostly soldiers in the northern city of Tripoli, killing 12 people.
— Raed Rafei in Beirut
ortrait of 1st Lt. Samer Hanna, who was killed in the attack. Credit: Lebanese Army
P.S. The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East, as well as the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can subscribe by logging in at the website here, clicking on the box for ‘L.A. Times updates,’ and then clicking on the ‘World: Mideast’ box.