Beirut & Berlin- German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung has said the Israeli military's chief-of-staff had "expressed his regret" to his German counterpart for the armed incident in which Israeli warplanes fired at a German warship.
"I don't expect any repeat of such an incident," Jung said late Friday on ZDF, Germany's national public television broadcaster.
Israeli jets fired in the air over a German intelligence-gathering ship off Lebanon's coast, German officials said Friday, as both countries continued to give different versions of what happened.
The ship, the 83-meter Alster A-50, was not listed as part of the German flotilla sent to prevent weapons smuggling off the coast of Lebanon as part of the expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said.
Raabe said the Alster was 90 kilometers off the coast in international waters when six Israeli F-16s flew over it and misaimed shots were fired in the air. The unarmed ship was there as part of efforts to protect the UNIFIL naval force, he said, noting that Israeli vessels had been hit with missiles during fighting with Hamas.
Asked what the motive for the jets' overflight was, he said, "I don't want to speculate. I don't think there is a serious background." He added that Israel had high security needs given the situation in the Middle East.
Raabe wouldn't say how Israel explained the incident to Germany's government.
Israel issued a statement saying that the planes approached a helicopter after it took off Tuesday from a German ship without notifying Israeli forces. The Israelis denied shots were fired.
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