Hezbollah blamed for deadly Lebanon helicopter downing

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

BEIRUT (AFP) — The finger of blame was being pointed at Lebanon's Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement on Friday over the downing of an military helicopter that left an army officer dead.

First Lieutenant Samer Hanna, 25, was killed when his helicopter was hit by gunfire on Thursday during a training mission in a region known as a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon.

"The area where this distressing incident took place is, as everybody knows, under the control of the Resistance (Hezbollah)," said former prime minister Salim Hoss, who is considered close to the Hezbollah-led opposition.

"Hezbollah must explain and not justify what happened, because the death of a brilliant officer cannot be justified whatever the circumstances of the incident," Hoss said in...