Maybe next time they'll pull the trigger.

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French troops almost fired at Israel jets: minister
Thu Nov 9, 2006 12:54 PM ET

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - 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 Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.

Speaking to the lower house of parliament on Wednesday night, she said it was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli warplanes had "adopted a hostile attitude" to French and German forces and added it was "not tolerable".

"A catastrophe was narrowly avoided by our troops," Alliot-Marie said, according to a transcript of her comments. A foreign ministry spokesman said the events occurred on October 31.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy summoned Israel's ambassador in Paris and told him Israel should ensure such incidents did not happen again, the foreign ministry said.

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 U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, she said.

"In legitimate defense, 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 often flown over Lebanon since a 34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas ended on August 14.

Israeli ambassador Daniel Shek said the flights were reconnaissance operations designed to counter Hezbollah efforts to rearm and re-establish itself in southern Lebanon and he denied the jets had deliberately targeted French troops.

He said French troops may have misinterpreted the Israeli pilots' intentions and said coordination between Israeli forces and UNIFIL forces may have to be strengthened.

"I can't imagine any situation in which an Israeli aeroplane would seek to harm a French force in any way," he told France's RTL radio, adding that relations between France and Israel were "very good".

The Lebanese government and the U.N. force say the Israeli flights violate a U.N. ceasefire resolution. Israel says the missions are necessary to help ensure that arms are not smuggled into southern Lebanon from Syria to resupply Hezbollah.

France has repeatedly called on Israel to stop the flights.

The Israeli air force was also involved last month in two encounters with German forces.

The first concerned two planes which a German paper 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".

An EU diplomat in Berlin from one of the key members of UNIFIL told Reuters Israel believed arms were still reaching Hezbollah and had complained to some UNIFIL participants.

He said this was almost certainly linked to the Israeli overflights that have been annoying Berlin and Paris. The German defense ministry was not immediately available for comment.

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