Israel Fighter Jets Stage Mock Raids

A Lebanese woman carrying her child passes by a boutique named "Truthful Promise" after the name given by Hezbollah to the operation of kidnapping the two Israeli soldiers at the beginning of the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah conflict , in the Hezbollah stronghold's southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006. Israeli fighter jets staged mock raids over Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut and two southern towns on Tuesday in the heaviest show of air power over Lebanon since an August cease-fire ended the war between Israel and the guerrillas. A picture of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is seen right. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser) (Nasser Nasser - AP)

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Israel's fighter jets roared over Hezbollah strongholds Tuesday, staging mock raids in its strongest show of force since its war with the guerrilla group ended more than two months ago.

The flyovers, which startled many Lebanese with fresh memories of the war, highlight the unsettled tensions between Israel and its northern neighbor, whose political situation has grown increasingly more uncertain.

Hours later, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah claimed the guerrilla group had reinforced its arsenal and said "serious negotiations" were under way over the fate of two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture by Hezbollah sparked the monthlong fighting in Lebanon.

The Israeli fighter jets swooped low over south Beirut at least six times in the morning before soaring back into the sky, Lebanese security officials said. The jets could be heard throughout the city, and residents climbed on roofs and balconies to watch.

One woman on her way to work at a clothing store said her hands were shaking after she heard the warplanes because they brought flashbacks of the Israeli airstrikes that pounded her south Beirut neighborhood during the war.

In south Lebanon, officials and witnesses reported Israeli planes staging mock raids over the towns of Nabatiyeh and Tyre. Eight Israeli jets crossed the border and dispersed over southern and central Lebanon, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give press statements.

The Lebanese army issued a statement saying its gunners fired anti-aircraft artillery at the planes in south Lebanon to try to drive them away.

An Israeli military official said the flights were part of routine reconnaissance activity.

"It was not to send any message. We do this on a regular basis," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations.

The mock raids came only hours after U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen told the Security Council that the Lebanese government had reported that arms were being smuggled into Lebanon from Syria since the end of the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war.

The 34-day fighting left more than 1,000 people dead on both sides, according to the U.N. and Israeli and Lebanese officials. Lebanon's Higher Relief Council, a government group, says the vast majority of those were Lebanese civilians. UNICEF also says most of those killed were civilians, and about a third of them were children.

Of the total deaths, 159 were in Israel, including 39 soldiers.