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Lebanese anti-aircraft guns opened fire on four Israeli fighter planes which were violating its air space and flying at low altitude on Monday, the military said. "The army's anti-aircraft guns fired at four enemy Israeli planes that had been overflying the (southern) area of Marjayoun this morning," an army spokesman said on condition of anonymity. A media correspondent in southern Lebanon said about 70 rounds had targeted four Israeli planes. While Lebanon's army publishes almost daily reports of Israeli violations of Lebanese air space, the military rarely opens fire unless the planes fly within range of its guns. The Israeli...

BEIRUT -- Lebanon says its army has opened fire on four Israeli warplanes that flew into Lebanese airspace. The Lebanese army said in a statement that its units used anti-aircraft fire Sunday to force the Israeli warplanes out of Lebanese airspace. The army said the planes were in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley in the central Lebanon. Israeli warplanes frequently fly over Lebanese airspace in what Israel says are reconnaissance missions. The overflights have been a constant source of tension between the two countries. Sunday's events come amid heightened tensions in the Middle East following some of the sharpest...

NAHR AL BARED, Lebanon -- Lebanese soldiers are being hampered in their fight against holed-up Islamist militants by the stench of putrefying corpses, army and medical sources said Saturday. An officer on the ground who requested anonymity said that the rotting corpses littering the devastated Nahr Al Bared refugee camp had made the air there unbreathable. A hospital source said several soldiers had been admitted due to severe vomiting. However, the army continued sporadic shelling of Islamist positions though sustained casualties during mine-clearing operations on the ground, military sources added. Two helicopters flew over the camp but did not open...

The death of 15 Israelis from Katyushas on Sunday in Kfar Giladi and Haifa moves the ground operation of the Israel Defense Forces in an expected direction: deeper into Lebanon. Senior officers said it seemed that after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to the Northern Command headquarters Monday, authorization would be given to expand the ground operation at least to the Litani River. But then came Hezbollah's surprising agreement to the deployment of 15,000 soldiers of the Lebanese army in the south. It is not clear how the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud will fulfill his responsibility in this regard, or...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The Lebanese government unanimously agreed Monday to send 15,000 soldiers to south Lebanon if Israeli troops withdraw, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said. Earlier in the day, the Lebanese army called up reserve soldiers in a move linked to the possible deployment on the border if a cease-fire agreement is reach to end nearly four weeks of fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces.

Lebanese Cabinet agrees to send troops to southern Lebanon if Israel withdraws and if it gets help from an international force.

LEBANON'S army is ready to defend the country against any land invasion by Israel, Lebanon's defence minister told Al Arabiya television yesterday. Asked if the army would fight alongside Hezbollah against any land incursion by Israel, Defence Minister Elias al-Murr said: "Our constitutional duty is to defend Lebanon as a Lebanese army. This is our role. "Any Lebanese citizens, Christians or Muslims, who want to defend their land are welcomed . . . "Defending one's land can be done in several ways, either helping the army with food or water, giving psychological or political support. Because this is a war...

Associated Press The United States plans to help train and equip the Lebanese army so it can take control of all of its territory when the warfare between Israel and Hezbollah eases, the State Department said Thursday. The program was approved by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take effect "once we have conditions on the ground permitting," said department spokesman Sean McCormack. McCormack provided no details on what equipment the United States might provide, the type of training that would be conducted, how many U.S. personnel would be involved, or how much...

(CNSNews.com) - Empowering the Lebanese Army is seen as a key element in resolving the Mideast crisis, but the army's makeup and its attitude towards Hizballah raise serious questions about the feasibility of the plan. The commander of the national army, Gen. Michel Suleiman, has made little attempt -- both before and during the current conflict -- to hide his support for Hizballah, the Shi'ite terrorist group also known in Lebanon as "the resistance." In a speech delivered Tuesday, Suleiman said the ongoing cooperation between Hizballah and the army "guarantees ... the country's unity," Beirut's Daily Star reported. The 58-year-old...

The United States will allocate $US10 million ($13 million) dollars for the Lebanese army so that it can move into the border zone near Israel currently controlled by the Hezbollah militia, the State Department said overnight. The aid is meant to help Lebanon modernise its force by purchasing spare parts for armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles needed to patrol the zone, as well communications equipment, Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman said. Congress must still approve the assistance, which is aimed at helping Lebanon work with an international force for the zone backed Friday in Washington by US...