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CNN Live Sunday
Escalation of Violence in Middle East
Aired August 10, 2003 - 18:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the crisis in the Middle East, there's been a escalation of violence, not between Israelis and Palestinians but along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. There Israeli forces are taking aim at Hezbollah artillery positions.
Our Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over the course of the last number of days we've seen an increasing level of violence across Israel's northern border with Lebanon, violence between Israeli forces and Hezbollah on the Lebanese side.
Today that violence resulted in the death of on Israeli, injuring several others. We are told that on the Lebanese side there is at least one Lebanese dead there as well.
Now, this comes at a time of increasing friction between the two parties, the Lebanese saying that Israel has been consistently violating what is called the Blue Line, the international boundary between Israeli airspace and Lebanese airspace, that they have been over-flying it.
Israeli acknowledging that they have done so in order to ascertain what is happening on the other side, saying that they need to gather intelligence in case of missile deployments.
Now, in addition to that, six or seven days ago there was a senior officer of Hezbollah who was killed as a result of a car bombing south of Beirut. Hezbollah has blamed that rightly or wrongly on Israel and some of what has happened in the course of the last number of days has been as a result of that.
We've had this tit-for-tat going back. The United Nations has said clearly tonight that it is not useful that Israel has, in fact, been violating Lebanese airspace.
The Israelis for their part because the Syrians hold the presidency of the Security Council at the moment are attempting to make as much of this diplomatically as they can, obliging the Syrian ambassador the president of the Security Council to send around a letter which condemns Syria's support for Hezbollah.
This is something that will play out not necessarily on the battlefield between northern Israel, Israeli forces, and those forces of Hezbollah in south Lebanon, but something we may see play out over the diplomatic playing field particularly at the United Nations.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 10, 2003 - 18:46 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the crisis in the Middle East, there's been a escalation of violence, not between Israelis and Palestinians but along Israel's northern border with Lebanon. There Israeli forces are taking aim at Hezbollah artillery positions.
Our Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Over the course of the last number of days we've seen an increasing level of violence across Israel's northern border with Lebanon, violence between Israeli forces and Hezbollah on the Lebanese side.
Today that violence resulted in the death of on Israeli, injuring several others. We are told that on the Lebanese side there is at least one Lebanese dead there as well.
Now, this comes at a time of increasing friction between the two parties, the Lebanese saying that Israel has been consistently violating what is called the Blue Line, the international boundary between Israeli airspace and Lebanese airspace, that they have been over-flying it.
Israeli acknowledging that they have done so in order to ascertain what is happening on the other side, saying that they need to gather intelligence in case of missile deployments.
Now, in addition to that, six or seven days ago there was a senior officer of Hezbollah who was killed as a result of a car bombing south of Beirut. Hezbollah has blamed that rightly or wrongly on Israel and some of what has happened in the course of the last number of days has been as a result of that.
We've had this tit-for-tat going back. The United Nations has said clearly tonight that it is not useful that Israel has, in fact, been violating Lebanese airspace.
The Israelis for their part because the Syrians hold the presidency of the Security Council at the moment are attempting to make as much of this diplomatically as they can, obliging the Syrian ambassador the president of the Security Council to send around a letter which condemns Syria's support for Hezbollah.
This is something that will play out not necessarily on the battlefield between northern Israel, Israeli forces, and those forces of Hezbollah in south Lebanon, but something we may see play out over the diplomatic playing field particularly at the United Nations.
Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
