U.N. Appeals to Israel, Lebanon

Lebanese soldiers patrol a road along the frontier with the northern Israeli village of Metulla in the southern town of Kfar Kila, Lebanon Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Thursday denounced what he called Israel's violation of the Lebanese border as U.N. officers surveyed the area of the first clashes since just after last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel. The overnight incident, sparked by an Israeli bulldozer crossing the border fence, showed how tense the Israeli-Lebanese frontier remains nearly six months after a U.N.-brokered cease-fire ended 34 days of fighting. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari) (Mohammed Zaatari - AP)

UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. Security Council and the secretary-general expressed deep concern Thursday at the first clashes between Israeli and Lebanese forces following the summer war between Israel and Hezbollah, urging all parties to "exercise utmost restraint" and abide by a U.N. brokered cease-fire.

Lebanese officials said their troops fired on an Israeli army bulldozer that had crossed the border near the village of Maroun el-Rass _ scene of heavy fighting in the summer _ and drove about 45 feet into Lebanon on Wednesday night. Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Saniora claimed the bulldozer crossed the so-called Blue Line, the border drawn by the U.N. after Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000 at the end of an 18-year occupation.

However, Slovakia's U.N. Ambassador Peter Burian, the current Security Council president, said Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno told members at a closed briefing Thursday that "there was no violation of the Blue Line," contradicting the Lebanese version of events.

Liam McDowell, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said the exchange of fire was "initiated by the Lebanese army" when the Israeli bulldozer crossed a "technical fence" to clear mines.

That technical fence was built by the Israelis in their territory but it is not at the Blue Line, and Israel controls additional territory between the fence and the U.N.-drawn border.

Neither the council nor Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an immediate assessment of blame for the clash.

"The members of the council expressed deep concern about this incident," a council statement said. "The members ... appealed to all parties to respect the Blue Line in its entirety, to exercise utmost restraint and to refrain from any action that could further escalate the situation."

Ban expressed deep concern at the exchange of fire which violated the cease-fire resolution and endangered "the fragile calm that prevails in southern Lebanon," U.N. spokesman Michele Montas said.

The border between Lebanon, Israel and Syria remains in dispute, but the Blue Line is referred to in the cease-fire resolution adopted by the Security Council in August at the end of the 34-day war.

Between 1,035 and 1,191 civilians and combatants were killed in the war, according to tallies by government agencies, humanitarian groups and The Associated Press. The count includes 250 Hezbollah fighters that the group's leaders now say died. Israel has estimated its forces have killed 600 Hezbollah fighters.

Israeli authorities put their death toll at 120 military combat deaths and 39 civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets fired into northern Israel.

The Lebanese army deployed in September to the south of the country to work alongside international peacekeepers.