French "nearly" Fire on Israeli Jets

[ORAC]

Not that I believe for a momemt that actually came close to firing, but I´m glad they didn´t, The subsequent state funerals in Paris would have been so distressing.....

BBC:French nearly fired at Israelis

French troops serving in Lebanon have been only seconds away from firing on Israeli aircraft, the French defence minister says.

Michele Alliot-Marie told parliament the jets dived towards UN positions in October and were perceived as a threat. "Two seconds later there would have been a shot against the aircraft which were directly menacing our forces," the defence minister said.

France has previously complained about Israel violating Lebanese air space.

Ms Alliot-Marie last month called the intrusions "extremely dangerous". She raised her concerns with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Jean-Marie Guehenno, the French head of the UN peacekeeping operations.

French troops are in Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping mission, which was expanded in a UN-brokered deal that ended a 34-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants earlier this year.

The head of France's troops in Lebanon even suggested their rules of engagement might need to be changed so that they could reply with force to Israel's air violations.

Ms Alliot-Marie said of the October incident that a "catastrophe" was avoided only thanks "to the judiciousness of our troops". The foreign minister said France would issue a caution to Israel......

[nick0021]

Im sure the Israelis are quaking in their boots!!:}

[cokecan]

so Israeli Jets overfly another soveriegn state and conduct 'interesting' flight manouvers towards mandated UN troops armed with Anti-Aircraft weapons which they may or may not have come close to using in self-defence - and the French get slagged off.


one wonders why the Palestinians and Lebanese feel the need to employ PR people with these morons around. :ugh:

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

That's somewhat more diplomatic than my intended post!

[MrBernoulli]

"French nearly fired at Israelis."

They have nearly won modern wars too! Nearly.

[Squirrel 41]

I'm right with Cokecan and GBZ: the French are a UN mandated force doing a difficult job under close to impossible circumstances. If the IDF/AF (or whatever their new title is) violate the Lebanese airspace, then they're asking to be engaged - in the same way that Lebanese or Syrian aircraft in Israeli airspace would be. :*

Having broken international law in overflying, if the Israeli jet then threatens the UN force in a way that falls within the RoE, then they should expect to be engaged - and before anyone gets on their high horses about French SAMs, Roland II/III and Crotale/Crotale NG can and will ruin your afternoon, even if you are Israeli. :=

The IDF/AF should stay out of Lebanese airspace and let the French-led UN force get on with it's job. Besides, what else are stand-off sensors for?! :hmm:

S41

[MrBernoulli]

But the French will NEVER do anything about Hezbollah creeping back into the area and setting up again. Nil, nada, nothing. All they want is to get the 4uck out of there soonest and collect their UN medals.

And the Israelis know it .... and know it well. They have been dealing with the French for decades.

[Melchett01]

French nearly fired at Israelis

Very nearly a first :E

They would have to have re-written the advert for all those rifles for sale in the back of "Soldier of Surrender "magazine if they had fired

[Always_broken_in_wilts]

Have the French finally perfected the art of firing over the shoulder whilst beating a hasty retreat:p

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced