France okays firing at IAF over Lebanon
YAAKOV KATZ and HERB KEINON, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 23, 2006
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French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli
overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking
French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.

Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to
discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire."

Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate,
traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF
flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.

Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force,
told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to
collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.

According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on
October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French
UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire
anti-aircraft missiles.

"There was a reality on the ground and it was important for us to reaffirm
what we had seen and explain clearly what are the orders of the French
soldiers to protect themselves," the French officer said.

The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a
violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

"No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the
flights]," the French officer said. "The orders that the [French] soldiers
have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel
threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have
the right to use force."

Milos Strugar, spokesman for UNIFIL, supported the French position, saying
that according to the UN resolution, UNIFIL had the right to use force in
self-defense, even against Israeli aircraft.

"UNIFIL has the right to take all necessary action to protect UN personnel
in self-defense," he said.

France's furor at the overflights was not divorced from French domestic
political considerations, government officials in Jerusalem said Wednesday.

France is scheduled to hold the first round of presidential elections in
April, and one of those reportedly considering tossing her hat into the ring
is Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.

According to these officials, taking a tough stance toward Israel on the
issue - a position that grabs headlines in France - helps her raise her
profile.

The officials said it didn't hurt Alliot-Marie politically to be seen as
someone who needed to be "held back" from responding forcefully to the
overflights.

France has said on a few occasions since the end of the war that it came
close to firing at Israeli jets over Lebanon. In late October, Alliot-Marie
told parliament that Israeli F-15's had dived close to French positions in
southern Lebanon.
"Our troops barely avoided a catastrophe," Alliot-Marie told parliament.
"Our troops find themselves in a position where they
have to fire in legitimate self-defense."

Alliot-Marie is a close ally of French President Jacques Chirac, and if
Chirac does not decide to run for a third term, he may back Alliot-Marie to
thwart his rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has not - contrary to some press reports -
asked the IDF to stop the overflights, diplomatic officials said. Rather,
they have passed on to the IDF European concerns that the flights be
performed more discreetly, and not in a way that could be interpreted by
either the Lebanese or the Europeans as a provocation.

Nehushtan declined to be interviewed for this report and the IDF Spokesman's
Office released a statement confirming that the IDF general had visited
Paris.