GOC Northern Command: "This was a planned ambush".
Lt. Col. Harari was shot and killed
IDF 03 August 2010 , 23:14
During the grave incident in the North, Lt. Col. (res.) Dov Harari was
killed, and Cpt. (res.) Ezra Lakia was critically wounded. Maj. Gen. Gadi
Eizenkot called it an "initiated and provocative action by the Lebanese
army, without any provocation from our territory. Full responsibility lies
on the Lebanese army."
Lt. Col. (res.) Dov Harari (45) from Netanya was shot and killed by Lebanese
military gunfire during a grave incident which took place in northern Israel
on Tuesday (Aug. 3). Harari served as a battalion commander. Capt. Ezra
Lakia (30) from Kfar Ha'Rif sustained severe injuries in the same incident.
Capt. Lakia served as a platoon commander. Both families have been notified
about the incident.
Lt. Col. (res.) Dov Hariri will be laid to rest on Wednesday (Aug. 4) at
16:00 at the military cemetery in Netanya.
GOC of Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, spoke to military
journalists on Tuesday evening, and discussed the developments of the severe
shooting incident which took place on Israel's northern border. He said that
the attack against IDF forces operating within the Blue Line was an
"unequivocal initiated and provocative action."
"The Lebanese army used sniper shooting, and hit two commanders of our
forces. It is our understanding that this was an initiated and provocative
action by the Lebanese army, which executed the shots fired towards the
force within territory of the State of Israel with no provocation from our
territory. We view this shooting as an extremely severe incident," he said.
According to Maj. Gen. Eizenkot, the IDF force which responded to the
incident was made up of soldiers from the Israeli Air Force, the Armored
Corps and the Artillery Corps, for an immediate response. "Afterwards, we
executed artillery fire and helicopter fire towards a Lebanese army position
commanding the area. We fired additional shots towards the LAF Battalion
Command that the soldiers belong to," he added.
During the IDF response, requests came from senior LAF officials for a
ceasefire, in order to evacuate the injured Lebanese soldiers. "We agreed to
a ceasefire,
but a half hour afterwards, there were RPG shots fired towards an IDF tank.
The rocket missed its target and the tank fired shots in response, destroyed
the launchers, and continued to fire towards an LAF position," he added.
Full Responsibility Lies on the LAF
Shots were fired on Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 2) by the Lebanese Armed Forces
(LAF) towards an IDF position where Israeli soldiers were performing routine
maintenance duties east of the border fence within Israeli territory. A
previous notification about these activities had already been passed on to
UNIFIL.
An IDF force immediately responded with light fire towards LAF forces, and
afterwards used artillery fire. Several minutes later an Israel Air Force
(IAF) helicopter fired at the LAF Battalion Command Center in Al-Taybeh,
damaging several LAF armored combat vehicles. The full responsibility for
this incident rests on the LAF which violated the relative quiet in the
region.
Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, arrived at Israel's
northern border and has been closely following the events as they unfold. He
is currently holding situation assessment meetings with the Commander of
IDF's Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, as well as the Commander of
the Galilee Regional Division and additional commanders. Civilian residents
in the region have been asked to maintain their normal daily routine.
Three Shooting Incidents Since the Second Lebanon War
Since the conclusion of the Second Lebanon War over four years ago, three
incidents of firing towards Israeli territory have been recorded. In each
incident, terrorist organizations have claimed responsibility.
On June 17, 2007, three Katyusha rockets were fired from the Tal Adiassa
region of Lebanon. Two rockets hit in Kiryat Shmone, one fell in an open
area in the Vradim neighborhood, and the second fell in the northern
industrial area, where a vehicle sustained a direct hit. On January 8, 2008
at night, two Katyusha rockets were fired towards Israel and fell in the
center of the town of Shlomi, in the Western Galilee.
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