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 In an apparent revenge attack for an Israeli air strike in Syria
that killed senior Hezbollah members, the group said its "Quneitra
Martyrs Brigade" had carried out Wednesday's hit on an Israeli
convoy in the Shebaa Farms frontier area, prompting concerns of
further escalation.
Lebanon's National News Agency said an Israeli soldier had been
captured in the operation, but the Israeli military immediately
denied that.
Israeli artillery fired at least 22 shells into open farmland in
southern Lebanon after the strike, a Lebanese security source said,
and thick smoke rose over the area.
The frontier area had been largely quiet since the 2006 conflict as
Iran-backed Hezbollah engaged in fighting alongside President Bashar
al-Assad's forces in Syria's civil war and Israel focused on the
Gaza Strip, where it fought for 50 days last summer against Hamas
militants.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made security his top
priority in a campaign for re-election on March 17, said: that
"whoever is trying to challenge us on the northern frontier" should
bear in mind Israel's Gaza offensive last year.
Speaking in Sderot, an Israeli town bordering the Gaza Strip,
Netanyahu said Israel was "prepared to act powerfully on all
fronts," adding: "Security comes before everything else."
An Israeli military source said Wednesday's missile hit a military
vehicle, wounding four soldiers. Mortar bombs then struck an army
position on Mt. Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights,
causing no casualties.
A Lebanese political source said Hezbollah's "big operation" had
killed and wounded a number of Israeli soldiers in response to the
Israeli air strike in Syria this month that killed an Iranian
Revolutionary Guard general, a Hezbollah commander and the son of
the group's late military leader.
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It remains to be seen whether Israel and Hezbollah, both having
drawn blood, will back away from further confrontation along battle
lines that could stretch across three countries: Israel, Lebanon and
Syria.
"I believe that Israel understands that we need to protect our
interests but not take any unnecessary steps that may pull us into
the conflict in Syria," retired Major-General Israel Ziv, a former
head of operations in the Israeli military, told reporters.
On Tuesday, at least two rockets from Syria hit the Golan Heights,
captured from Syria in a 1967 war. Israel responded with artillery
fire immediately after that incident and early on Wednesday with an
air strike in Syria.
(Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem,
Laila Bassam and Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Suleiman Al-Khalidi in
Amman; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
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