OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/BEIRUT (Al Arabiya, Agencies)
Israel warned Lebanon on Tuesday it would face "consequences" if there were further disturbances along the northern border, just hours after a deadly exchange of fire.
"Israel sees the government of Lebanon as responsible for this grave incident and warns of consequences in the event that disturbances of this kind continue," a statement from office of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.
The clashes, which saw Israeli and Lebanese troops exchanging fire along the northernmost section of the border, claimed the lives of three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, a security official in Beirut said.
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" Israel sees the government of Lebanon as responsible for this grave incident and warns of consequences in the event that disturbances of this kind continue "
Statement from the office of Israeli FM Avigdor Lieberman
There were also Lebanese reports of an undetermined number of Israeli soldiers wounded.
"It started when the Israelis wanted to cut a tree down inside Lebanon. The Lebanese army fired warning shots at them and they responded by shelling," said a security source in Lebanon.
The Israeli foreign ministry said Lieberman had instructed Israel's delegation to the United Nations to lodge formal complaints with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.
It said Israeli troops had been operating on the Israeli side of the border, in coordination with U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, when they came under fire.
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In breach of the resolution
" The president denounces the new Israeli violation of Resolution 1701, which includes ... the bombing of a Lebanese army checkpoint and attacks on Lebanese property "
Statement from the office of Lebanese President Michel Suleiman
The statement said the Lebanese attack was a "clear breach" of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended a devastating 2006 war between Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah and Israel and beefed up the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), charged with overseeing a ceasefire between the two enemies.
For its part, the Israeli military blamed the Lebanese army for the clashes that occurred along the border, saying it bore "full responsibility" for the incident.
Lebanese Officials, however, said it was Israel which was in breach of the resolution.
"The president denounces the new Israeli violation of Resolution 1701, which includes ... the bombing of a Lebanese army checkpoint and attacks on Lebanese property," a statement released by President Michel Suleiman's office said.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the "violation of Lebanese sovereignty and demands ... the United Nations and the international community bear their responsibilities and pressure Israel to stop its aggression," a statement from his office said.
And the Lebanese military said: "We hold Israel's arrogance responsible" for the clashes.
The fatalities were the first suffered by either side since the 2006 war in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Lebanon, along with 158 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
A new Lebanon war could be even more devastating than the last. Hezbollah has an arsenal of 40,000 rockets, according to Israeli estimates. Israel has threatened to attack Lebanese infrastructure in any new conflict with the Shiite guerrillas.
The incident occurred a day after rockets that Israel suspects were fired from Egypt by Islamist militants struck Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba, killing a man.
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