The CNN report followed Lebanese media reports of increased Israeli Air Force activity over southern Lebanon on Thursday and Friday.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the CNN report.
As many as eight Israeli warplanes reportedly entered Lebanese airspace, according to Hezbollah news outlet Al-Manar, while The Daily Star on Friday quoted the Lebanese military as saying that a succession of Israeli warplanes flew over the country, culminating in a pair of planes which circled South Lebanon for nearly three hours on Friday afternoon.
On Thursday, “two Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace entering above the sea west of Sidon and flying over all Lebanese areas as they conducted aerial maneuvers,” the Daily Star quoted a statement from the Lebanese Army as saying.
The Israeli army’s top intelligence analyst Brig. Gen. Itai Brun was the first prominent figure to publicly declare that President Bashar Assad was using chemical weapons — he specified Sarin — against rebel targets. Brun’s public assertion caused initial dismay in the US, and was initially rejected by Secretary of State John Kerry, but soon afterwards confirmed by the US and other world powers.
US President Barack Obama had said such use would be a game-changer, and Obama has been weighing how to respond for several days. Israel has said repeatedly that it will intervene to prevent Syrian chemical weapons falling into the hands of terror groups such as Hezbollah.
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