PARIS (EJP)--- French defence minister Michele Alliot-Marie has revealed a series of incidents where French soldiers nearly shot at the Israeli air force in South Lebanon.

While speaking at the national assembly before the vote on the defence budget on Wednesday night, Alliot-Marie declared that French troops recently “avoided a catastrophe” after Israeli F15 pilots dived at their position. The minister said French forces were “two seconds away” from firing at Israeli fighter planes.

French defence minister Michèle Alliot-Marie : "Our troops barely avoided a catastrophe"

“Two seconds later, there would have been a shot against the planes that were directly threatening our forces,” said Alliot-Marie. “A catastrophe has been avoided by our soldiers who were in a position where they could have fired in self-defence.”

According to the defence ministry, the incident occurred on October 31. Its exact location remains unknown.

Intolerable actions

The minister branded the Israeli actions “intolerable” and criticised the behaviour of “irresponsible pilots” who took such risks. She added that other incidents involving the IAF in recent weeks could have turned “extremely serious”.

According to Alliot-Marie, Israeli pilots acted with hostility towards French and German naval forces.

“I’m pointing out, for the second time, after I did so at the UN, the necessity to respect UNIFIL forces.”

Israel's ambassador to France, Daniel Shek, was summoned to the Quai d'Orsay, the French foreign ministry, to hear complaints about the Lebanese incident.

In an interview with RTL radio station, Israeli ambassador to France Daniel Shek said the flights were reconnaissance operations designed to counter Hezbollah efforts to rearm and reestablish itself in southern Lebanon. He denied the jets had deliberately targeted French troops. He said French troops may have "misinterpreted" the Israeli pilots' intentions and said coordination between Israeli forces and UNIFIL forces may have to be strengthened. "I can't imagine any situation in which an Israeli aeroplane would seek to harm a French force in any way," Shek said, adding that relations between France and Israel were "very good".

Chirac involved

French officials including president Chirac called on Israel to stop at once all air violations in Lebanon.

French Foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy warned on Wednesday, while speaking to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, that Israeli air violations in Lebanon were “extremely dangerous because they may be felt as hostile by coalition forces that could retaliate in case of self-defence.”

Douste-Blazy said it was “a miracle that nothing serious happened” in the October 31 incident between Israeli and French forces.