President Michel Sleiman condemned Friday, May 3 recent Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, calling them a continuation of the Jewish state’s “policy of intimidation” and a bid to destabilize the country, The Daily Star reported.

Israel has intensified the rate of its overflights in Lebanese airspace over the past several days, a development security sources attribute to the monitoring of cross-border weapons transfers with Syria.

Eight Israeli warplanes violated Lebanon’s airspace in a span of 14 hours, flying over large swaths of the country, the Lebanese Army said.