SHEAR YASHUV, Israel — The Lebanese Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for firing a missile that hit an Israeli military convoy Wednesday, an attack Lebanese officials said prompted Israel to fire at least 50 artillery shells into Lebanon in a significant escalation along the volatile border.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said there were Israeli casualties in the attack, but did not elaborate. The military said it was responding with aerial and ground strikes on Hezbollah positions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond "forcefully."
Smoke from Israeli shelling covers the Lebanese town of Al-Majidiyah January 28th.Photo: Getty Images
In a statement, Hezbollah said its fighters destroyed a number of Israeli vehicles that were carrying Israeli officers and soldiers and caused casualties among "enemy ranks."
It said the attack was carried out by a group calling itself the "heroic martyrs of Quneitra," – suggesting it was retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on the Golan Heights on Jan. 18 that killed six Hezbollah fighters and an Iranian general.
The Israeli military said an anti-tank missile hit an Israeli military vehicle near the Israeli-Lebanese border on Wednesday, and said residents of the area had been ordered to remain in their homes.
An hour later, mortars were fired at several Israeli military locations on Mount Dov and Mount Hermon, the Israeli military said. No injuries were reported in that attack. The military said it responded with fire toward Lebanese positions, and evacuated Israeli visitors from a ski resort in the area.
The flare-up recalled the beginning of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war, which was sparked by a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli military vehicle along the border and the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers.
The Israeli military said there was no indication of any Israeli soldiers captured in the attack.
But the latest salvos raised the possibility of renewed fighting along the Lebanese-Israel border, which has remained mostly quiet since a monthlong war in the summer of 2006. Since then, Israel has responded with airstrikes and artillery fire following a number of rocket attacks and shootings but the violence remained contained.
Wednesday's attack took place near Mount Dov and Shebaa Farms, a disputed tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet.
Hanna Bikel, a spokeswoman for Ziv Hospital in Safed, said four to six people with light wounds from the strike were on their way to the hospital. She declined to say whether they were soldiers or civilians.
Two Lebanese officials said the Israeli shelling targeted the border villages of Majidiyeh, Abbasiyeh and Kfar Chouba near the Shebaa Farms area. There was no immediate word of casualties, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
One of the Lebanese officials said the incident is believed to be a "sophisticated Hezbollah operation" targeting Israeli vehicles along the border.
Families living on the border of the villages fled further within, fearing they'd be hit, said the officials, who are based in south Lebanon. Celebratory gunfire echoed in Shiite-dominated areas of Beirut, while in some areas, nervous parents hurried to pick up their children from school and hunker home.
The latest salvos raised the possibility of renewed fighting along the Lebanese-Israel border, which has remained mostly quiet since a month long war in the summer of 2006.Photo: Getty Images
Netanyahu, speaking at an event in southern Israel, warned that Israel's enemies would face a fate similar to Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip who fought a brutal 50-day war against Israel last summer.
"To anyone who is trying to challenge us on the northern border I suggest looking at what happened here, not far from the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was dealt its heaviest blow ever since its founding and the Israel Defense Forces is prepared to act forcefully in all areas," he said.
The attack comes shortly after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Syrian army artillery posts in response to rockets fired the previous day into the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
Israel has declined to comment on any connection to the Jan. 18 airstrike, but has braced for a response to the strike, beefing up its air defenses and increasing surveillance along its northern frontier.
Israel says the Chebaa Farms is part of the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in 1967. Lebanon and Syria say the enclave belongs to Lebanon, while the United Nations says the area is part of Syria and that Damascus and Israel should negotiate its fate.
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