Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed yesterday in an exchange of fire between Hizbollah and Israel, one of the most violent clashes between the two sides since a 2006 war.
The soldiers were killed when Hizbollah fired five missiles at a convoy of Israeli military vehicles on the frontier with Lebanon.
The peacekeeper, serving with a UN monitoring force in Lebanon, was killed as Israel responded with air strikes and artillery fire, a UN spokesman said.
Hizbollah said one of its brigades in the area had carried out the attack, which appeared to be in retaliation for a January18 Israeli air strike in southern Syria that killed several Hizbollah members and an Iranian general.
“Those behind the attack today will pay the full price,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned later yesterday, in televised remarks as he met with security chiefs. The Israeli military confirmed the deaths of the soldiers, saying they had been attacked while driving in unmarked civilian vehicles on a road next to the fence that marks the hilly frontier. Seven other soldiers were wounded.
Those behind the attack will pay the full price
Andrea Tenenti, spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which employs more than 10,000 troops, said the peacekeeper’s death was under investigation. The UN special coordinator for Lebanon urged all parties to refrain from any further destabilisation of the situation, while Lebanon’s Prime Minister said his country was committed to the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war.
The 80-kilometre frontier has largely been quiet since 2006, when Hizbollah and Israel fought a 34-day war in which 120 people in Israel and more than 500 in Lebanon were killed.
Since the end of the war with Hamas militants in Gaza last year, Israel has warned of frictions on the northern border and the possibility that Hizbollah might dig tunnels to infiltrate Israel. In recent days it has moved more troops and military equipment into the area.
Netanyahu, who faces a parliamentary election on March 17, said Israel was “prepared to act powerfully on all fronts”.