Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon resumed firing of anti-tank missiles and mortars on Israeli outposts in Shebaa Farms along the border Monday afternoon. One Druze shepherd reported wounded.
Similar Hizbullah attacks have been taking place on a daily basis since Israel started its militray operation in the West Bank at the end of last month.
Israeli forces returned fire. The israeli cabinet was set to meet Monday night to discuss the continued Hizbullah attacks.
On Sunday afternoon, Israeli warplanes delivered swift retaliation to Hizbullah guerrilla fire.
In the exchanges of fire between Hizbullah fighters and the Israeli military, six soldiers were wounded.
In a phone conversation late Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres asked U.S Secretary of State Colin Powell to intervene with Lebanon and Syria to calm the border.
Israel’s chief of staff, Lieutenant General Shaul Mofaz, warned that Israel was prepared to hit back at the centers of power in Lebanon. “When red lines are crossed, we will know how to act,” he said as residents of northern Israel were instructed to enter bomb shelters.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused Iran and Syria of encouraging Hizbullah attacks, adding that the Jewish state had given warnings through diplomatic channels. “We made clear that this … could perhaps lead to a very big outbreak,” he said.
US Ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle held a “very frank” discussion with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri Sunday evening, saying afterward that the “continuing activities across the border … are cause for very great worry, very great concern.”
Speaking to The Daily Star on Sunday before the evening’s escalation, Lebanon’s Defense Minister Hrawi said that the army was “doing its best” to control the situation along the border. “We are doing our best to control the Blue Line through security means, military means and political means. And we are succeeding now,” he said. “There may have been an attack by RPG or Katyusha, but if our policy was not to control the situation, there would have been hundreds of rockets crossing the border.”
A Palestinian source said that the refugee camps have been “boiling” since Israel launched its offensive in the West Bank, 10 days ago, with many calling for the southern border to be “opened to guerrilla attacks”. The source said Syrian workers living in Shatila camp were instructed to leave Lebanon over a week ago, amid a general mobilization of Palestinian factions.
Jumaa Abdullah, a spokesman for the PFLP-GC, confirmed that his group and “all 10 Palestinian factions” were seeking new recruits in preparation for a possible “opening” of the southern front. “We are alarmed by the regional developments. We expect the next step is an attack on Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran,” he said. “We have no alternative but to mobilize and recruit new members.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli army decided late Sunday on a limited draft of senior reserve officers to reinforce soldiers on Israel's northern border. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
