OMEN
07-17-2006, 08:49 PM
http://stuff.co.nz/inl/common/imageViewer/0,1445,246525,00.jpg
BLAZE: A fire fighter calls for backup near a factory on fire after it was attacked by Israeli missiles in south Lebanon.
BEIRUT: Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said that no Israeli jet or helicopter had been shot down over Lebanon but did not rule out that a drone many have been downed.
Lebanese television stations said an Israeli aircraft had been shot down over Lebanon and showed footage of burning debris falling from the sky.
Lebanese security sources said they could not confirm that it was a plane, suggesting it might have been a fuel tank ditched by an aircraft.
Using careful wording, Hizbollah's television station later described it as a "burning object."
Peretz told Israeli reporters he could not yet rule out the possibility that what was downed near Beirut was an unmanned drone, which the Israeli army uses to gather intelligence.
Captain Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said: "No aircraft was downed by Hizbollah. It appears that this was a misfire of a Hizbollah rocket."
Witnesses say Israeli aircraft bombed the area immediately after the burning object fell from the sky.
Israeli aircraft pounded Lebanon on Monday for the sixth day after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border attack on Wednesday.
Reuters
BLAZE: A fire fighter calls for backup near a factory on fire after it was attacked by Israeli missiles in south Lebanon.
BEIRUT: Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said that no Israeli jet or helicopter had been shot down over Lebanon but did not rule out that a drone many have been downed.
Lebanese television stations said an Israeli aircraft had been shot down over Lebanon and showed footage of burning debris falling from the sky.
Lebanese security sources said they could not confirm that it was a plane, suggesting it might have been a fuel tank ditched by an aircraft.
Using careful wording, Hizbollah's television station later described it as a "burning object."
Peretz told Israeli reporters he could not yet rule out the possibility that what was downed near Beirut was an unmanned drone, which the Israeli army uses to gather intelligence.
Captain Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said: "No aircraft was downed by Hizbollah. It appears that this was a misfire of a Hizbollah rocket."
Witnesses say Israeli aircraft bombed the area immediately after the burning object fell from the sky.
Israeli aircraft pounded Lebanon on Monday for the sixth day after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border attack on Wednesday.
Reuters