4 Israeli soldiers wounded in Lebanon incursion

[azurnoir]

Source: The Nation

Four Israeli soldiers on patrol were wounded in a blast 400 metres (yards) inside Lebanese territory on Wednesday,

Lebanon's army and a UN peacekeeper in the border region said.
Israel's army had said earlier the four soldiers were wounded in an explosion overnight near the Lebanese border, but did not specify which side of the UN-demarcated "Blue Line" border the troops were on. An AFP correspondent at the scene and a Lebanese army officer said two separate explosions had taken place, but Israel and Lebanon had yet to confirm this detail. "An infantry patrol of the Israeli enemy penetrated 400 metres inside Lebanon on Tuesday, the army said.

"An explosion took place and the soldiers were wounded, with blood found at the scene. A military committee has opened an investigation in coordination with UNIFIL, " the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, it said.

A UNIFIL officer deployed in the area said the Israeli army unit, which was made up of 10 soldiers, withdrew after the explosion taking the wounded with them, as troops on the Israeli side of the border fired flares to light up their exit. An Israeli army spokesman reported earlier that an explosion along the border wounded the four soldiers, but did not specify the cause of the blast or say whether it was inside Lebanese or Israeli territory.

Read more: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/08-Aug-2013/4-israeli-soldiers-wounded-in-lebanon-incursion

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Stay on your own side of the border, guys.

[freshwest]

2. Sounds like they stumbled into a mine field. 400 meters isn't far. Routine border patrol gone bad?

[azurnoir]

3. 400 meters is about a quarter mile

which is far enough, I can only imagine if it had been Lebanese soldiers a quarter mile inside Israel

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Conflicting reports. Other reports are saying it took place on Israeli territory.

It will be a few days before the location is dotted.

[Steviehh]

8. Hezbollah maintains border,

Several years ago, a a general was hit and killed by a sniper, another officer wounded when IDF was trimming trees on border. IDF excursions are closely watched there. IDF is not as capable as before.

[The Stranger]

9. What "conflicting reports"?

Do you have a link or are you spreading misinformation?

[Behind the Aegis]

10. .....

Earlier, a Lebanese security source said the incident may have taken place north of the border fence which separates Israeli and Lebanese forces, but on the Israeli side of the line.

He said the soldiers may have been wounded by a mine.

Another security source said the explosion was about 150 yards south of the blue line.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/07/19912935-four-israeli-soldiers-injured-in-explosion-on-israel-lebanon-border?lite

Lebanese security officials, speaking anonymously as they are not authorized to talk to the media, say seven explosions were heard from the Israeli side of the border

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/aug/08/ml-israel-lebanon/

Earlier, a Lebanese security source said the incident may have taken place north of the border fence which separates Israeli and Lebanese forces, but on the Israeli side of the line.

He said the soldiers may have been wounded by a mine.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/07/uk-israel-lebanon-idUKBRE9760LU20130807

[The Stranger]

16. So it was on the Lebanese side of the border.

. . . north of the border fence.

But the Israelis have created "the line" on the Lebanese side of the border.

[freshwest]

13. No use jumping to conclusions about the IDF invading Lebanon.

If they want to do that, they have better ways. It's likely someone stepped on some mines. It says explosions but doesn't define the source. Mines are common in borders, unfortunately.

Borders aren't as well defined, nor set in stone as some think. Common example is when a river changes course.

I'm also sure there is a certain amount of legal commerce between Israel and Lebanon. And a bit of contraband as well.

For all the talk of super surveillance and super weaponry we hear about, they are not being used there. We don't know what happened, but mines do terrible damage to the body.

Note the source used the word 'enemy.' This may be a biased piece. So many news reports use inflammatory language. IDK if this rises to the level of an international incident, even.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. That is true.

It isn't from the American magazine "The Nation," but rather from a Pakistani paper of the same name. Note in the post above, there are other accounts, even from Lebanese officials, that they soldiers were across the fence, but still on the Israeli side (the fence doesn't actually mark the border, despite what many may think). It will likely be a few days/weeks before we know where the soldiers were exactly. The possibility always exists they did cross into Lebanon, it has happened a number of times; but it is just as likely they were on their side, which is completely legal.

[The Stranger]

17. I'm pretty sure the Israelis didn't mine their own territory.

They mined the Lebanese territory.

[freshwest]

18. You're claiming the Lebanese don't know how to mine their own territory?

[The Stranger]

23. Are you claiming that the Israelis were not mining South Lebanon?

[bravenak]

5. Why not stay on your own side of the line?

I guess they know better now.

[Alamuti Lotus]

6. Israeli soldiers set Lebanese forest on fire after four soldiers injured by landmine

Updated at 6:00pm:Israeli forces set fire to woodlands in South Lebanon near the border, the Lebanese Wednesday National News Agency reported.

Civil defense and Lebanese army units were working on extinguishing the fire in Houla, the NNA added.

South Lebanon is riddled with tens of thousands of landmines and cluster bombs, many of whom were placed there by Israeli forces at the end of Israel’s occupation of the region in 2000 and during the July 2006 war.

Israel’s army regularly violates Lebanese sovereignty, crossing over the blue line demarcating the disputed border between Lebanon and Palestine, as well as sending war planes over Lebanese territory.

On Tuesday, Lebanon’s army registered two violations of the Lebanese airspace, as four Israeli planes flew over the northern city of Tripoli, the NNA reported.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/four-israeli-soldiers-wounded-landmine-after-crossing-lebanon

[kelliekat44]

11. So, was the land mine inside Lebanon? nt

[mpcamb]

7. "Incursion"...

While that word works, when you send military forces into another country it's usually called an "INVASION".

[kelliekat44]

12. lol. nt

[freshwest]

15. The media lives for drama. War talk is exciting and sells airtime!

[Alamuti Lotus]

19. The Lowdown on Hezbollah’s Ambush in South Lebanon

Near midnight on Tuesday, August 6, an Israeli commando unit began to move from the Palestinian side toward Lebanon’s northern frontier. The unit deployed to several points along the fence before starting to cross into Lebanon nearly 20 minutes later.

The unit followed a path that is in the line of sight of both Labbouna and Jall al-Alam, the two largest Israeli outposts in the western area near the southern Lebanese village of Alma al-Shaab. In the area, there is a narrow footpath that Israeli soldiers have been caught using before, carrying out activities of a security nature.

To cross further into Lebanese territory, the Israeli soldiers had almost no choice but to take a road that bypasses the UNIFIL outpost, while also allowing them to go undetected by the Lebanese army post nearby. This road is nearly 1 km. The soldiers took a few minutes to cross it, moving toward another area containing what resembles a ditch, which the soldiers crossed before arriving at slightly higher ground.

At 40 minutes past midnight, an explosive device containing four smaller devices filled with ball bearings exploded. Exactly 20 seconds later, a similar device was detonated. The two explosions had a blast radius of about 15 meters, enough to hit everything and everyone that moved within the blast zone.

The well-trained Israeli soldiers, as they appeared to be, had been deployed in formations that seemed to anticipate an ambush. They kept a certain distance from one another, while some took cover behind the hills of the same ditch mentioned earlier, and others moved to higher ground. Nevertheless, the intruding unit was dispersed in a matter of minutes.

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lowdown-hezbollah’s-ambush-south-lebanon

[oberliner]

20. Gee, what a reasonable and objective source that is

"For the enemy, the obvious conclusion will be that the Resistance remains ready and vigilant, fully prepared to face any Israeli incursion."

"...heroic men slipped silently from amongst them to ensure the integrity of their land and honor, and carry out their duties against an arrogant enemy that never learns from its mistakes. Those men did their job, and returned home before dawn to have the suhur meal with their families, and talk about the celebrations of victory."

That's some good journalism there - and from the senior editor no less!

Certainly doesn't sound like a pro-Hezbollah propaganda mouthpiece at all.

[Alamuti Lotus]

22. The author has never claimed to be objective on the subject

The author, and editor in chief of the paper, is both a leftist and indeed a personal friend of Sheikh Nasrallah and other important leaders in the Party. As such, he has access to after-action reports and information that fraudulent writers--such as Blanford and Anne Barnard and those other spindoctors that you normally read--can only dream of. Or make up, as is more often the case. Ibrahim al-Amin has strong opinions on the subject and makes no attempt to disguise them. I realize that kind of honest and frank writing may be very disconcerting to you, but that doesn't invalidate one syllable of the content.

[DeSwiss]

21. When a unit of a neighboring country's army......

...crosses an internationally recognized boundary, exactly when does an ''incursion'' become an INVASION?