Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned today that if Lebanon diverted water from its Hasbani river, would constitute a "casus belli," or grounds for war.
Israeli Army radio said Sharon made the statement at a special session with military and civilian officials after a meeting with his cabinet.
The Hasbani rises in Lebanon and flows for around 50 kilometres (30 miles) through Lebanese territory before joining the River Jordan and emptying into Lake Galilee.
In March 2001 an Israeli military official accused the Lebanese of starting construction of a pumping system on their side of the border with Israel to stop the Hasbani's waters from entering Israel.
A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon denied Beirut was siphoning off water from the Hasbani, saying the works were to set up a pipe to provide water for a village hit by a shortage.
Sharon said he had alerted the United States on the issue, threatening military operations against Lebanon if it started pumping water out of the Hasbani or its tributary, the Wazzani.
"If Lebanon put into effect its project to siphon water from the river, it would be serious enough a reason for Israel to act," said Labour Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh on army radio.
The southern council, set up to oversee development of the area evacuated by Israeli two years ago after some two decades of occupation, is setting up a 16 kilometre (10 mile) water pipe network which is to supply water to 60 villages.
The network will at an unspecified date hook up a pipe set up in the waters feeding the Wazzani.
AFP