Lebanon, Israel clash near border; at least 4 dead

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer
ADEISSEH, Lebanon – Lebanese and Israeli troops exchanged fire on the border Tuesday in the most serious clashes since a fierce war four years ago, killing four people including two Lebanese soldiers and an Israeli army officer.

The violence apparently erupted over a move by Israeli soldiers to cut down a tree along the fence dividing the two countries, a sign of the level of tensions at the border where Israel fought a war in 2006 with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The U.N. urged "maximum restraint" and said it was working with both sides to restore calm. After an initial clash of about five minutes, intermittent shelling and gunfire went on for several hours until the fighting stopped by mid-afternoon, witnesses said.

A Lebanese army officer said the clash started when Israeli troops tried to remove a tree from the Lebanese side of the border.

An Associated Press photo shows an Israeli standing on a crane reaching over the fence that Israel erected to separate the two countries. The fence, however, does not match the U.N.-drawn border in all places, and the Israeli military said in a statement that the tree was in Israeli territory.

"It was over the fence but still within Israeli territory," the military spokesman's office said. He said the tree cutting was coordinated with the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL....