Lebanon boosts defense near S border

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=127951§ionid=351020203



The Lebanese army has beefed up defenses along the country's southern border, launching a military exercise against a backdrop of Israel's ongoing war games.

Lebanon deployed its 11th infantry brigade along the western sector in the south, media reports quoted the country's al-Manar TV network as saying on Wednesday.

Security officials in Beirut said forces were deployed across the border with Israel "in order to thwart any possible offensive from the enemy, and close any loopholes that it might use during an attack scenario."

The officials also said the army was ready to counter any possible Israeli incursion.

The deployment came two days after Israeli forces, backed by military vehicles, took up combat positions near Fatmeh Gate and in the groves adjacent to Kfar Kila, prompting Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers in the area to go on alert.

The Lebanese army said earlier on Wednesday its anti-aircraft artillery opened fire at two intruding Israeli warplanes flying at medium altitude over the Lebanese territory.

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, had earlier warned about Israel's violation of Lebanese airspace, saying they were in breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a 33-day Israeli offensive on southern Lebanon in 2006.

The development comes amid ongoing Israeli military drills codenamed "Turning Point 4" in 68 different towns and cities - which is widely viewed as an indication of another Israeli war in the region.

The secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah, vowed on Tuesday to respond to any renewed Israeli offensive on Lebanese territory.

"If we are targeted, we target them as well. [If] we are killed, we can kill. [If] we are forced to leave our homes, we force them to leave their homes. [If] we are confronted, we confront them and so they will have a real problem," Nasrallah said.