Israel's navy Sunday fired warning shots toward a Lebanese fishing vessel in the Mediterranean, a military spokeswoman said. “Warning shots were fired after a Lebanese fishing boat entered a closed zone,” she said without confirming whether the boat had entered Israeli territorial waters. After the shots were fired, causing no damage or injuries, “the Lebanese boat changed course,” she added. Relations between the two countries have been particularly tense since Tuesday when Israeli and Lebanese troops clashed along the border. – Agencies, in a deadly exchange of fire which killed two Lebanese soldiers and a journalist, as well as an Israeli officer. The standoff was sparked when Israeli troops tried to cut down a tree on the border, prompting the Lebanese to open fire towards them. Meanwhile, a UN committee probing Gaza flotilla raid is due to begin work on August 10 and submit a first progress report by mid-September. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon's four-man team will be chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, with outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe as his deputy. The other two members, a Turkish national and an Israeli, were named by the UN Saturday as Ozdem Sanberk, former director general of the Turkish foreign ministry, and Joseph Ciechanover, who held the same position in Israel. The panel will review reports on the internal investigations by both Israel and Turkey and will draw conclusions about the facts, circumstances and context of the incident, and issue recommendations on steps to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, the UN said.
