'Hizbullah downed Lebanese helicopter'
jpost.com staff and ap , THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 28, 2008
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Hizbullah sources confirmed the group was responsible for firing at a
Lebanese military helicopter, killing a navigator and forcing the aircraft
to make an emergency landing, Channel 1 reported Thursday night.

The helicopter was attacked as it flew over a Hizbullah stronghold in
southern Lebanon, earlier on Thursday.

According to a statement released by the Lebanese army, the helicopter was
on a training mission when it came under fire from "armed elements" and was
forced down in the highlands of the Iqlim al-Tuffah province.

The statement said 1st Lt. Samer Hanna was killed and that the aircraft was
damaged. No other crew were hurt.
Hizbullah did not release a formal statement on the shooting. The terrorist
group has not clashed with the Lebanese military in recent years and their
forces often coordinate their activities. It is likely, for example, that
the army would have informed Hizbullah that one of its helicopters would be
flying over the area.

Thursday's incident occurred outside the zone of operations of UN
peace-keepers near the border with Israel, a region also patrolled by
Lebanese troops.

A top Shi'ite cleric, Sheik Abdul-Amir Kabalan, urged the army to
investigate swiftly and suggested that a collaborator with Israel may have
fired on the aircraft. Lebanese military was investigating the incident,
Channel 1 reported.
The area where the incident took place is a predominantly Shi'ite Muslim
region southeast of the southern port city of Sidon, far from Lebanon's
sensitive Syrian and Israeli borders. It's a stronghold of Hizbullah, who is
believed to have bases and concealed positions there.