Jerusalem/Beirut, Jan 28 (IANS) Israeli forces attacked southern Lebanon from the sky and ground Wednesday killing a Spanish UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) soldier after a missile fired from Lebanon hit an Israeli army convoy.
The Lebanese Shia organization Hezbollah assumed responsibility for the earlier missile attack Wednesday, which targeted an Israeli military convoy near Mount Dov on Shebaa Farms, a disputed zone at the intersection of the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria. The attack killed and wounded an unconfirmed number of soldiers.
Shortly afterwards, Israel fired at least 50 artillery shells into southern Lebanon and later also launched an air strike, a military spokesperson said in a statement.
“In response to Hezbollah attacks today, a short while ago, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) responded with combined aerial and ground strikes at Hezbollah operational positions,” Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesperson said.
Later, mortar shells were reported to have hit an Israeli military position and a house in the Arab Druze village of Ragar in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that a larger Israeli attack might follow.
“To everyone who is trying to challenge us at the northern border, I recommend for them look what happened in Gaza,” Netanyahu said shortly before entering an emergency meeting he summoned with the military’s senior command to discuss further steps.
“Hamas took its hardest hit since its formation and the IDF is prepared to act strongly on all fronts,” he added.
Following the missile attack on Mount Dov, a report from Beirut said Hezbollah has claimed responsibility.
In a statement, Hezbollah said “at 11.35 this morning, the Qoneitra martyrs squad of the Islamic Resistance targeted an Israeli army convoy composed of a number of vehicles and a number of Zionist officers and soldiers, with the appropriate missiles, which led to the destruction of many vehicles and the injury of many enemy soldiers”, Xinhua news agency reported
According to television station MTV, six Israeli soldiers were injured during the attack and the Israeli army responded by shelling intensively the eastern sector of south Lebanon with at least 200 mortar shells.
Hezbollah, which largely controls southern Lebanon, and Israel fought a one-month war in 2006, and the two remain sworn enemies.
On Tuesday, two rockets were launched from Syria and landed in open territories in northern Israel’s Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in the 1967 Mideast War. No injuries or damage was reported and the IDF retaliated with artillery fire into Syria, resulting in several injuries, according to Syrian media.
On Tuesday evening, Netanyahu warned that “those who play with fire will be hit by fire”, alluding to the earlier rocket attacks.
He said Israel viewed the rocket attacks severely and will “know how to defend itself” against those who “challenge us within our borders”.
Israeli security forces believe Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militant group, orchestrated this attack along with Syrian forces of President Bashar al-Assad, in response to an alleged Israeli airstrike last week, which killed several Hezbollah and Iranian operatives, including a top Hezbollah commander and an Iranian general.
The IDF has been on high alert in the past week in northern Israel following the alleged airstrike and anticipating response, deploying more forces in the area. The Ha’aretz daily reported Tuesday the IDF installed concrete blocks along part of the Israeli-Lebanese border, to shield against shooting attacks.
Although not officially confirmed, it is believed Israel carried out several airstrikes against Syria, targeting weapons transfer from Iran to Hezbollah, due to the fighting spilling over from the Syrian civil war into northern Israel.