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Israel hits south Lebanon after Hizbollah attack

Posted on: Friday, 3 February 2006, 12:04 CST

By Afif Diab

KFAR SHOUBA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft and artillery pounded suspected Hizbollah positions in south Lebanon on Friday after guerrillas attacked an Israeli military post in the border Shebaa Farms area, wounding one soldier.

Hizbollah said the attack with rockets and mortar bombs on the Rwaisat al-Alam position was in retaliation to the killing of a Lebanese shepherd by Israeli soldiers deployed at the post.

Israel confirmed the strikes and held the Lebanese government responsible for the Hizbollah attack.

"We see this attack as a very serious provocation from the Hizbollah terror organization which is working under the auspices of Lebanon," Israeli army spokeswoman Avital Leibowich said. "The State of Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any terror attack emanating from its territory."

A U.N. peacekeeping source in south Lebanon said the 90-minute exchanges stopped after a ceasefire was arranged following contacts with both sides.

Witnesses in Lebanon said Hizbollah guerrillas fired salvoes of rockets and mortar bombs into the position and smoke was seen rising from its fortifications.

Shortly afterwards Israeli jets launched four strikes on targets near the villages of Kfar Shouba and Habbariyeh on the Lebanese side of the border while Israeli artillery pounded the area, they said.

The Israeli military said one soldier was slightly wounded. A Lebanese woman was slightly wounded by the air strikes, according to a Reuters witness.

Hizbollah said in a statement that it had attacked to retaliate for Wednesday's killing of the shepherd by Israeli soldiers at the Rwaisat al-Alam post.

SHEPHERD OR INFILTRATOR?

The Israeli spokeswoman said the slain man was trying to infiltrate across the border and had fired at Israeli troops.

"Any attempt by Hizbollah to tie this attack in with the armed man who crossed the border on Wednesday and fired at our troops is completely baseless," she said.

Lebanon and U.N. peacekeepers said on Thursday that Israeli troops had killed the 17-year-old shepherd inside Lebanon and Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed retaliation.

Shi'ite Muslim Hizbollah guerrillas have periodically attacked Israeli forces on the border, mainly in the Shebaa Farms which Israeli troops still control, since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanon says Shebaa is Lebanese. The United Nations and Israel say it is Syrian land. Hizbollah says its attacks are retaliation for Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty, including almost daily flights over Lebanon by Israeli jets.

Hizbollah has been under increasing pressure to lay down its weapons since a 2004 U.N. Security Council resolution demanded that all foreign troops withdraw from the country and Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias disarm.

Syrian troops ended their 29-year military presence in Lebanon last year under international pressure and local protests following the killing of Lebanese ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri, but Hizbollah has kept its weapons.

Source: REUTERS

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