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Maronite bishops condemn Israeli airstrike in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 5 (UPI) -- Maronite bishops, ripping Israel's latest airstrike on Hezbollah, Wednesday said Syrian airstrikes on Lebanon were the price of intervening in the crisis.

"The bishops strongly denounce the Israeli air raid on Lebanon and Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty as well as Syrian shelling and [attacks] along the border with Syria [with the aim of] intimidating the Lebanese," the bishops said in a statement after their monthly meeting in Beirut.

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"This shows the exaggerated involvement by various Lebanese factions in Syrian [affairs] at a time when evading the destruction of homes and infrastructure and the displacement of innocent people is needed," the statement said.

The bishops also criticized what they called the "campaign" against Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, who has been engaged in harsh back-and-forth with Hezbollah over government policy, the (Beirut) Daily Star reported.

The statement called the war of words an "insult" to Sleiman and urged the various political movements to stop their attacks on the president.

Also Wednesday, the Israeli military shot at two Hezbollah operatives trying to plant a bomb at the Israel-Lebanon border, the Jewish Telegraph Agency reported.

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Officials said no Israelis were hurt in the operation.

The Jewish Telegraph Agency said the attempt followed an alleged Israeli bombing last week of a Hezbollah facility on the Lebanon-Syria border. Hezbollah blamed the attack on Israel, which hasn't commented.

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