United Nations: United Nations peacekeepers, backed by tanksand armour, took up positions in the area of Wednesday's (Feb 7, 2007) clashbetween Lebanese and Israeli armies as the incident rang alarm bells at theworld body's headquarters and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the SecurityCouncil pleaded for restraint in the highly volatile region.

The Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) hascalled a tripartite meeting between Lebanese, Israelis and the world body andthe Council expressed the hope that it would help defuse the situation.

The exchange of fire was initiated by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) after abulldozer of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) crossed the ttechnical fence inan apparent attempt to clear the area between the technical fence and the BlueLine of mines, a UN spokesperson said, adding that it constituted a breach ofthe cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council.

This was the first clash since the Lebanese army, backed by the well-armedpeacekeepers, was deployed of Southern part of the country, which for years wasunder the control of Hezbollah. The Lebanese army had taken control of the areaafter a 34-day war between Hezbollah and Israel last year in which Tel Avivdestroyed a major part of Lebanese infrastructure. The Council resolution,which ended the war, also established a robust peacekeeping mission withauthorized strength of 15,000.

Dozens of French and Italian soldiers moved into five kilometers belt nearMaroun el-Rass village where Lebanese said the bulldozer had crossed the socalled "blue line" - UN demarcated border - which led to the clash.The Lebanese said the bulldozer violated the border by 15 metres when theyfired shots.