French peacekeeping troops in Lebanon recently came within two seconds of firing missiles at Israeli fighter jets that approached as if to attack them, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said last night.
Speaking to the lower house of parliament, she said this was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli warplanes had "adopted a hostile attitude" to French and German forces and said it was "not tolerable".
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie
"A catastrophe was narrowly avoided by our troops," Alliot-Marie said, according to a transcript of her comments. She did not say exactly when or where the events took place.
Israeli F-15s descended rapidly and then rose quickly as if they were dropping bombs or firing at the French ground forces, which are part of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL, she said.
"In legitimate defence, our soldiers removed the covers from the missile battery and were two seconds away from firing at the planes that were threatening them," she said.
Israeli jets have routinely flown over Lebanon since a 34-day war between Israel and Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas ended on August 14th in a UN-sponsored ceasefire and the expanded deployment of international peacekeepers in southern Lebanon .
The Lebanese government and the UN force say the Israeli flights violate a UN ceasefire resolution. But Israel says the missions are necessary to help ensure that arms are not smuggled into southern Lebanon from Syria to resupply Hezbollah.
The Israeli air force was also involved last month in an encounter with German forces.
It concerned two planes which a German newspaper said had fired twice as they flew over a German navy ship. Israel denied they fired but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over what he called "misunderstandings".