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Israel attacks suspected Hezbollah targets
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-18 11:28
Israeli warplanes twice bombed suspected Hezbollah targets along the border
in southern Lebanon on Monday, wounding two women, after guerrillas blew up an
Israeli bulldozer in a disputed area near the frontier, Lebanese officials said.
Israeli artillery pounded positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, where
the bulldozer attack took place, before fighter jets raided two other Lebanese
border regions.
The flare-up near Israel's northern border comes as the Palestinian Authority
tries to rein in Palestinian militants responsible for attacks in southern
Israel.
The Lebanese security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two
Lebanese women were injured after Israeli planes fired two missiles at targets
in Qsair, an area about four miles from the Israeli border.
Hours later, another jet fired a missile at Wadi Izziyeh, an area where
Hezbollah maintains positions between the southern port city of Tyre and the
border town of Naqoura on the Mediterranean coast. There was no word on
casualties, but a plume of smoke was seen billowing from the bombed area.
Earlier, Hezbollah's Al-Manar television said Hezbollah forces planted a bomb
that destroyed a bulldozer in the Chebaa Farms area. It said there were
"definite casualties" among the Israelis, adding that Israeli ambulances rushed
to the scene.
But the Israeli army said there were no casualties in the bulldozer attack,
which it said took place inside Israeli territory.
The Israelis issued a statement saying its air force "targeted two sites in
southern Lebanon belonging to Hezbollah" after the militant group claimed
responsibility for the bulldozer attack.
"The Israeli Defense Forces will continue to act with determination against
any attempt to target Israelis and destabilize the region," the statement added.
Lebanese security officials said at least 25 Israeli artillery shells landed
near the village of Kfar Chouba near the Chebaa Farms, following the bulldozer
attack. Israeli officials said the Hezbollah strike was the group's third in the
area in eight days.
The attacks include a Jan. 9 Hezbollah roadside bombing that killed an
Israeli soldier. Israeli artillery retaliation killed a French officer serving
with the United Nations and wounded a Swedish officer and a Lebanese man. A
Hezbollah militant also was killed.
Hezbollah issued a statement later Monday saying the bulldozer bombing was in
retaliation for "repeated Israeli aggression," claiming Israeli artillery
gunners have shelled the area numerous times recently.
Israeli officials have accused Hezbollah of coordinating with Palestinian
militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Hezbollah is backed by Syria and Iran
and the group is on the U.S. list of terrorist groups.
The Lebanon-Israel border has been largely quiet since Israel withdrew its
forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000 after an 18-year occupation.
But Hezbollah, who took control of the Lebanese border areas, has
occasionally attacked Israeli troops in the disputed Chebaa Farms area where the
borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.
Lebanon, backed by Syria, claims the area. Israel captured the territory when
its forces seized Syria's Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East war before
annexing the area. The United Nations says the region is Syrian and that Syria
and Israel should negotiate its fate.
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