Israel troops on alert after Lebanon govt falls

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops in the north were on alert Thursday over worries that the
political turmoil in Lebanon might spill over into renewed violence on their shared border,
following the collapse of the Lebanese government.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group and its allies threw the already volatile
Lebanon into chaos on Wednesday by pulling out of the government and causing it to
collapse.
Hezbollah, which clashed with Israel in a monthlong war in 2006, bolted over the government
continued cooperation with a U.N. tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Hezbollah expects the tribunal to indict some of its members. It timed the dissolution of
the government to coincide with the White House visit of the current prime minister,
Hariri's son Saad.
A senior officer in Israel's northern command said commanders were following events in
Lebanon very closely for any sign Hezbollah might try to heat up the already jittery
northern border to deflect attention from the political turmoil.
However, although troops have raised their level of alert, reserves have not been called up
and no regular troops have been moved north from other areas, the officer said.