Victory! At last!During EU meeting in Brussels, French defense minister says IAF warplanes have stopped mock air strikes targeting European peacekeepers in Lebanpn following incident in which French peacekeepers came within seconds of shooting down Israeli warplanes
Israeli warplanes have stopped mock air attacks targeting European peacekeepers in Lebanon following a French government protest, French Defense Minister Michelle Alliot-Marie said Monday.
Behold the Power of the french government!!!
"There is no more of that attitude - that is, an openly hostile attitude - like we had over a French vessel, a German vessel and the French ground forces, which caused a real danger of legitimate defense measures being taken," Alliot-Marie told reporters at a European Union meeting.
Paris demanded Israel stop the raids after French peacekeepers came within
Alliot-Marie said Israeli overflights of Lebanon were continuing in defiance of the UN, but said they were no longer taking a threatening approach to the peacekeepers. She repeated French forces could have launched an "automatic defense reaction" after Israeli planes failed to identify themselves while flying mock bombing runs at peacekeepers.
The commander of the French-led UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon said last week that such a scenario was avoided only because of restraint by French forces.