Israel launches air strikes on Lebanon

Israeli warplanes have attacked suspected Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon.

Israeli warplanes have attacked suspected Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon.

It came after the guerrillas fired rockets and mortar shells at Israeli outposts in the disputed Chebaa Farms area. There was no immediate word of casualties in either attack.

Witnesses said an Israeli jet fighter swooped twice over a hill firing air-to-surface missiles in each sortie.

Israeli artillery also shelled suspected guerrillas who earlier targeted Israeli positions with rockets and mortars.

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Hezbollah said in a statement its guerrillas opened fire with rockets and mortars, scoring direct hits.

Israel responded by firing some 30 heavy artillery shells at a valley near the Lebanese village of Halta, close to the disputed Chebaa Farms area on Lebanon's border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

It was the first Israeli air raid on Lebanon since July 1st, when Israeli fighter jets struck Syrian army positions in eastern Lebanon in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack at Chebaa Farms.

Hezbollah considers Chebaa Farms Lebanese territory and vowed to liberate it.

But the United Nations, which drew a border line after Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon, regards the area as part of Syrian territory that Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.

AP