An Israeli soldier was killed in a Hizbollah attack on an Israeli instillation on the border with Lebanon earlier today. The attack was followed by Israeli air strikes on Hizbollah targets in Lebanon, the first such raids since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office.
The Israeli army said the soldier was killed after an anti-tank missile was fired toward an army force near a military post at Har Dov or the Shebaa farms on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel bombed south Lebanon in retaliation to the attack by the militant Shiite Hizbollah organization in the disputed Shebaa Farms region.
"Israeli air force combat planes today attacked Hizbollah targets in south Lebanon due to heavy fire from the targets in the direction of the Har Dov region inside Israeli territory. All our planes returned safely to their bases", an Israeli army said in a statement.
The army said it hit two targets, but did not give details on the raids."It is a very dangerous escalatory trend on the part of Hizbollah," Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin said, adding that Israel was "very concerned" about the attack.
The soldier, whose identity was not disclosed, was the third killed in the area by Hizbollah since Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon.Sheik Hassan Nasrallah's guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier and injured two lastNovember.
Hizbollah's last attack was carried out in February, just 10 day after Sharon's election,killing one Israeli soldier and injuring two others. Israel had then responded to the attack with limited assaults against Hizbollah targets in the area.
Hizbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, spearheaded a guerrilla war against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanonending with Israel's withdrawal last year.
AFP