Helicopter incident could spark domino effect

Dubai: Military experts and political analysts were united yesterday in saying the shooting down of a military helicopter in Southern Lebanon would have "grave" consequences on the track of developments in the country.

A Lebanese officer was killed in the incident. The Lebanese army issued a statement saying the military helicopter was on a training mission when it came under fire from "armed elements" and was forced down in the highland region of Iqlim Al Tuffah province. The area is predominately Shiite. It is considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, and the group is believed to have bases there.

The statement added that First Lieutenant Samer Hanna, a navigator, was killed, no one else in the crew was hurt, investigations are continuing, it added.

"The incident carries grave ramifications," retired Army Brigadier General Elias Hanna said.

Speaking to Gulf News, the military expert believes the importance of the incident lies in the area where it took place.

"The training has been going on for many days," Hanna said.

"Why today? Either the pilot entered a new sensitive area that he was not supposed to fly over, or it [the shooting] was a result of a lack of coordination," Hanna, who is also a senior lecturer in Lebanon on military issues, added.

Dangerous

"In general, I doubt it was intentional because it would look obvious, and I don't think Hezbollah is seeking a confrontation with the army," Hanna said.

"The incident is a very dangerous one," a Lebanese analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

While the list of interpretations and theories seems a long one, there are two prominent elements, he said.

"I think it uncovered one of the most important positions of Hezbollah in the area," the analyst told Gulf News. "The second thing, it shows that Hezbollah has anti-aircraft weapons, which Israel has said the Lebanese group has."

A Lebanese source told Gulf News that both Hezbollah and the army had formed a joint investigation committee. However, this was not confirmed from a second source. Also, there was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah on the incident or on the investigations.

Security officials also said that Israeli warplanes flew over south Lebanon villages in surrounding areas of Iqlim Al Tuffah in apparent reconnaissance missions before and after the helicopter attack. There was no immediate comment from Israel.

A top Shiite cleric, Shaikh Abdul Amir Kabalan, was quoted as urging the army to investigate swiftly and suggested that a collaborator with Israel may have fired on the aircraft.

The area has not witnessed any incident involving Hezbollah and Lebanese troops in the past. Hezbollah has verbally condemned previous attacks on the army. However, the Lebanese army has clashed with Sunni fighters, particularly in the north, and the military has recently been targeted.

A bus bombing earlier this month in the northern city of Tripoli killed 18 people, including 10 soldiers. Last month, unknown gunmen attacked a Lebanese military post in remote northeastern Lebanon, killing one soldier and wounding another.

The Al Qaida-inspired Sunni group Fatah Islam claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed a soldier in Abdeh, near Tripoli, on May 31.

"The army is the symbol of security and order in any country," Hanna said. "If anyone wants to hit security and order, the army is targeted."

The area is outside the zone of operations of UN peacekeepers near the border with Israel, a region patrolled by Lebanese troops and international peacekeepers. The UN Security Council on Wednesday extended UNIFIL's (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) mandate - which was set to expire at the end of August, for one year in a resolution adopted unanimously.

- With additional inputs from AP

Junblatt call: Reconciliation needed

Sectarian violence in north Lebanon could provide Syria with a new pretext to intervene in its neighbour, anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Junblatt said yesterday.

Junblatt also stressed the need for reconciliation among followers of rival leaders whose power struggle pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war in May. Steps taken to that end were "not enough", even if Lebanon was far more stable now than four months ago, Junblatt said in an interview.

A protracted power struggle between Junblatt's "March 14: alliance and a rival coalition led by the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah was ended in May by a Qatari-mediated settlement.

The deal drew both camps into a unity government and led to the election of a new president. But leaders have yet to deal with sectarian tensions unleashed by a power struggle that led to armed conflict between Sunnis, Shiites and Druze. Sectarian tension still hangs over the northern city of Tripoli, where more than 20 people have been killed since June in clashes between gunmen from the city's majority Sunni community and Alawites who have close ties to Syria.

Syria, which is governed by the Alawite Assad family, dominated Lebanon until 2005. The assassination of statesman Rafik Al Hariri that year triggered pressure on Damascus to withdraw troops that had first entered the country in 1976.

"Why should we give the Syrians a pretext to intervene like in '76 when some Christian villages were surrounded ... and the Christians went to Damascus and asked for Syrian protection? It could happen again now with the Alawites," Junblatt said.

"They feel like a minority and they know they could be protected," he said, speaking of "confessional cleansing" in Tripoli, where Sunni politician Sa'ad Al Hariri, a Junblatt ally, yields wide influence. Syria has said it has no intention of being drawn into the north Lebanon conflict.

- Reuters