Germany says Israel not respecting Lebanon airspace

"That Israel is still trying to control the airspace over Lebanon despite the international presence of French, Italian and other soldiers, runs contrary to every agreement," Gernot Erler told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"The Israelis have so far rejected every internationalization of their security. But this is now happening with the UNIFIL mission. It's evidently something the Israeli armed forces take some getting used to."

Germany assumed command of a U.N. naval force off Lebanon last month and has sent eight ships and 1,000 service personnel to join the international peace operation in the region.

Erler's comments, published in a preview of Sunday's edition, follow incidents in which Israeli air force encounters with German forces provoked so-called "misunderstandings."

The first, late last month, involved two planes which a German paper said had fired twice as they flew over a German navy ship. It was followed by a separate run-in with the German navy in an area used by the Israeli air force for training.

Erler said he had confidence in Israel's assurances that such incidents would not be repeated. If this were not the case, the two sides would need to talk again, he said.

The naval force is there to prevent weapons smuggling and help maintain a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas.

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