Israeli warplanes fly low over south Lebanon

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude over large areas of southern Lebanon on Wednesday, witnesses said, and the Lebanese army said it had fired on an unmanned Israeli spy plane.

The Lebanese army said it fired at 10.40 a.m. (0840 GMT) on an Israeli reconnaissance plane which had flown near the southern city of Tire. Israeli warplanes had also flown in the area, it said in a statement, giving no further details.

A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon confirmed the army had opened fire from a mobile anti-aircraft gun.

Israeli warplanes regularly fly over south Lebanon but witnesses said Wednesday's flights, seen from the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon, were unusually frequent and at a lower altitude than normal.

U.N. peacekeepers and Lebanon say Israeli overflights violate Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended the July-August war between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Earlier this month the outgoing commander of the U.N. peacekeepers said Israeli warplanes were still flying over southern Lebanon on a daily basis despite appeals for them to halt the missions.

Israel says its combat planes will continue to fly over Lebanon to ensure that weapons are not smuggled into southern Lebanon from Syria to resupply Hezbollah.

This week a top Israeli intelligence analyst said Hezbollah is replenishing rockets launched or destroyed during the war and will soon have a more powerful arsenal than before.

Israeli air raids during the war destroyed large districts of the Hezbollah stronghold southern suburbs in Beirut and several towns and villages in south Lebanon.