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| Middle East |
| Hezbollah Shells Israeli Positions |
| 2003-01-21 |
| Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas shelled Israeli positions in a disputed border area Tuesday, the first such attack in months, provoking Israeli airstrikes and artillery fire that wounded two civilians, security officials said. In Israel, military officials confirmed the exchange, saying the army returned fire and sent helicopters into air. The Lebanese officials said the guerrillas fired around 25 rockets and mortar shells on the Israeli military outpost of Roueissat el-Alam inside the Chebaa Farms area. There were no reports of injuries from the Hezbollah attack. A Hezbollah statement issued in Beirut said its guerrillas targeted the outpost "as a group of (Israeli) soldiers were outside the post's fortifications." The statement said guerrillas fired at the outpost using "appropriate weapons and scoring direct hits." "We saw someone outside a bunker, lobbed a few rounds in the general direction, and ducked." Israeli troops retaliated with two airstrikes and 155 mm artillery fire on suspected guerrilla hide-outs in the hills on the outskirts of Kfar Chouba, a small farming village near the Chebaa Farms area, the Lebanese officials said. That would now be the "former" hide-outs. Two civilians were wounded by shrapnel in the village of Hibbariyeh near Kfar Chouba, the officials said. These would be the same "civilians" you find near Iraqi targets The border area has been largely quiet since August, when the guerrillas fired mortar rounds and missiles at Israeli outposts, killing an Israeli soldier and wounding two others. Testing response times? Notice the attack came from Lebanon and not the Syrian Hezbollah, Lebanon being expendable. |
| Posted by:Steve |