Lebanon Files U.N. Complaint against Israel over Airspace Violation

Lebanon on Thursday filed a U.N. complaint against Israel after its warplanes used Lebanese airspace to fire missiles at targets in Syria’s Homs, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expats has filed a complaint before the U.N. Security Council in New York over the dangerous Israeli violation of Lebanese sovereignty, after three Israeli aircraft bombed Syrian sites from the Lebanese airspace, which represented a threat to Lebanese civilians,” the Ministry said in a statement.

“This violation comes at a time the entire world is facing the threat of the spread of the coronavirus pandemic,” it added.

It also urged the U.N. Security Council to “put an end permanently to the Israeli violations,” noting that “Israel violates the Lebanese aerial, maritime and territorial sovereignty on daily basis.”

Israeli warplanes flew at low altitude Tuesday over several Lebanese regions, sparking a state of panic, before they bombed targets in Syria’s Homs.

Syrian air defenses opened fire Tuesday night on missiles launched from Israeli warplanes flying in Lebanon’s airspace, shooting down some of them, Syrian state media said.

The Syrian state TV said the targeted a Syrian army position without saying where exactly. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said Israeli warplanes fired eight missiles at the Shayrat air base in Homs province. It gave no further details.

Residents of the Lebanese capital Beirut heard the sound of warplanes in the air shortly before the airstrikes were reported.

There was no immediate comment from Israel.

In recent years, Israel has repeatedly carried out airstrikes in Syria against targets belonging to Iran and Lebanon’s Hizbullah.