MAIS EL-JABAL, Lebanon - Israeli troops exchanged fire with Hizbollah guerrillas across the Lebanese border on Wednesday to provide cover for an Israeli paraglider pilot who drifted into Lebanon by accident.

The second incident on the border in three days was brief but looks set to increase tension in the area, hours after Israeli aircraft dropped leaflets in Beirut urging Lebanese to act against Hizbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran.

In Washington, Lebanese opposition leader Michel Aoun expressed concern the violence could worsen.

Hizbollah and Israeli military sources said the civilian paraglider pilot, who took off from the cliffs of the Israeli border town of Menara, was blown across the frontier to land near the Lebanese village of Mais El-Jabal.

Lebanese witnesses in the village said Hizbollah guerrillas tried to advance toward the site to capture him but were thwarted by heavy machinegun fire from the Israeli side.

"It was brief. The fighters could not reach him because of the heavy firing. The Israeli quickly went back," one villager said.

Israeli troops helped the pilot, who later gave his name as Adam Wechsler, to make it back across the border.

"Soldiers who were near that spot saw him land. They basically opened a gate in the fence and told him to go through it," a military source said. Earlier, military sources said troops had entered Lebanon briefly to rescue the pilot.

PARAGLIDER COULD FACE CHARGES

"Were it not for the army, I would be in Lebanon right now, and I don't know what would have become of me," Wechsler told reporters back in Menara before being taken away in handcuffs by police, who said he may be charged with crossing the border illegally.

Shimon Elhadad, a restaurant owner at Menara cliffs, told Ynet Website that he called the army after seeing the paraglider drift across the border. "Fortunately they managed to rescue him before a Lebanese vehicle could reach him," he said.

Aoun, a former army commander, told reporters in Washington "Today a small incident necessitated a big operation."

"It bothers me because it can develop into other provocations, it's very critical," he said, speaking after talks with senior State Department officials on Hizbollah and other topics.

The clash came two days after the most violent fighting between the guerrilla group and Israeli forces along the tense border since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanese security sources said Hizbollah's raid on Monday, in which four guerrillas were killed and 11 Israelis wounded, was a failed attempt to capture Israeli soldiers in a bid to exchange them with Arab prisoners.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli planes dropped thousands of leaflets over Beirut, telling Lebanese citizens that Hizbollah wanted to destroy Lebanon. (Reuters)