page_title: 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash
section_title: Confrontation
hierarchical_section_title: 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash / Confrontation
caption_attribution_description: M113 APCs of the Lebanese army in a military base in Akkar, North Lebanon.
context_page_description: The 2010 Israel–Lebanon border clash occurred on August 3, 2010, between the Lebanese Armed Forces and Israel Defense Forces, after an IDF team attempted to cut down a tree on the Israeli side of the Blue Line, near the Israeli kibbutz of Misgav Am and the Lebanese village of Adaisseh. A high-ranking IDF officer was killed and another wounded, when LAF snipers opened fire on an Israeli observation post after receiving authorization from senior Lebanese commanders. IDF soldiers returned fire and responded with artillery shelling and airstrikes on Lebanese positions, killing two Lebanese soldiers and Al Akhbar correspondent Assaf Abu Rahhal. and wounding five soldiers and one journalist. This was the most serious escalation on the border since the 2006 Lebanon War.
  The Lebanese Army asserted that it opened fire on Israeli soldiers to contravene the attempt of Israelis to intrude through the border of Lebanon in violation of the internationally recognized border between Israel and Lebanon. Israel claimed that it only crossed over a fence on its side of the Blue Line.
context_section_description: According to the Israeli military the fighting began when a Lebanese Army sniper unit fired on an IDF observation post inside Israeli territory after receiving authorization from Lebanese commanders. The gunshots were fired from a range of about 700 meters from a building in the Lebanese village of Adaisseh. An Israeli military spokeswoman said there were about two or three sniper shots, and that the surprise attack seemed like an ambush. IDF soldiers immediately fired on Lebanese troops with small arms, and the Lebanese returned fire.
  The IDF launched a heavy artillery attack targeting Lebanese Army outposts, claiming that the outposts held a "dominating position" and could have posed a threat to troops still on the ground. Israeli artillery fired at an army position in Adaisseh. One artillery shell hit a civilian area.
  Several minutes after the confrontation began, an Israeli Air Force AH-64 Apache helicopter gunship attacked a Lebanese Armed Forces command center in the southern Lebanese town of Al Taybeh, destroying several M113 armored personnel carriers.
  Throughout these assaults, the IDF had been receiving a number of requests from the senior command levels of the Lebanese Army, asking for a cease-fire to allow the Lebanese to evacuate their casualties. Later, the IDF agreed to a cease-fire, and halted its attacks. Half an hour later, a Lebanese Army rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) team fired a single round at an Israeli tank, but missed. This tank then fired at the Lebanese position from which the attack had come.
caption: Lebanese M113 APCs, like those destroyed in the incident.
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