Israeli-Lebanon borders, repeated tension

TEL AVIV, October 28 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Raising fears of a new spiral of violence in the region after a period of relative calm, Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters exchanged fire late Monday, October 27, drawing U.N. condemnation and U.S. concerns.

The U.N. coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Terje Roed-Larsen, condemned the attacks along the Israel-Lebanon border in the Shebaa Farms border area, occupied by Israel since 1967.

The envoy "strongly deplores the latest violation of the Blue Line which took place earlier," he said in a statement, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Today's events underscore yet again the acute need for the government of Lebanon to exert full control over the use of force from its territory. The special coordinator urges all parties to exercise maximum restraint and respect fully the Blue Line."

The United Nations drew the "Blue Line" between Lebanon and Israel following the Israeli withdrawal in May 2000 from southern Lebanon after 22 years of military occupation.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said the fighting began when Hezbollah fighters fired rockets and mortars at Israeli military positions in the Shebaa Farms area, according to the statement.

Israeli troops then fired back with artillery and aerial bombs, it said.

Israel occupied the Shebaa Farms during the 1967 Six-Day War, and still refuses to withdraw from the small mountainous enclave, claimed by Beirut with the backing of Damascus.

Defiance

Israeli cannons in occupied Golan Heights fires at Hezbollah positions in Lebanon

The Israeli military Tuesday, October 28, while putting the blame on Hezbollah, threatened to use “very, very strong force”.

Israeli northern front commander Major General Benny Ganz said that continuing cross-border escalation is a "dangerous factor, which may make situation such that we may have to act with very, very strong force, an Israeli paper reported.

"In that case, I would assume that it would be preferable to be an Israeli citizen
rather than a Lebanese citizen," Ganz was quoted by Ha’aretz daily, as telling Israel Radio.

On the other hand, a Hezbollah leader in south Lebanon said Tuesday that the organization would continue its attacks on Israeli strong points along the Lebanese border in order to "liberate the occupied land in the Shabaa area," Israel Radio reported, according to the Israeli daily.

For its part, the Lebanese army said in a Monday statement that it and Syria's armed forces had looked into ways to "confront challenges and enemy threats to which both Syria and Lebanon are exposed."

"A unified formula was reached on this issue," it said, giving no details on exactly how Lebanon and Syria would respond, according to Ha’aretz.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, for his part, called on Syria and Israel Monday to ease tensions and tone down their rhetoric after a Syrian official threatened to retaliate against further Israeli attacks.

"We're encouraging both sides to lower the tension and lower the rhetorical tension as well," Powell told reporters when asked about the Syrian Foreign Minister’s earlier comments, published Sunday in a British newspaper.

"These sorts of statements do not assist us, do not assist any of the parties in the region to try to move forward, just heighten tension," he said.

"So I would encourage both sides to refrain from these kinds of rhetorical threats," Powell added.

In an interview with the London-based Sunday Telegraph, Faruque al-Shara said: "If we are attacked again our people will not stand for it and we have to carry out the will of the people."

"We have many cards that we have not played. Don't forget there are many Israeli settlements in the Golan," he was quoted as saying. "I am not exaggerating but I am describing things as they might happen."

On October 5, Israel bombed what it claimed was a training camp near Damascus used by the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, Damascus insisted the attack, Israel's first air raid deep into Syria in three decades, had targeted a civilian area.

Washington, however, have sided with Israel and U.S. officials have said that there had been evidence of what they termed “terrorist activity” at the site in the days preceding the attack.

The U.S. State Department Monday called on Syria and Lebanon to press the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah to stop cross-border rocket attacks into the Shebaa Farms area on the Israeli border.

"We've asked everybody in the region to use their influence to prevent this kind of shelling and to maintain calm along the Israeli-Lebanon border," spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"We reiterate our call on all sides to abide by their longstanding assurances to the U.N. Secretary General and to ensure that there are no further violations of the UN-demarcated withdrawal line," he said.

Earlier Monday, Israeli warplanes bombed Hezbollah positions after their forces came under fire in the Shebaa Farms area.

Lebanese police said that two Israeli jets fired six air-to-surface missiles at two suspected Hezbollah positions near the villages of Kfar Shuba and Meri on the Lebanese side of the border.

The Israeli action came after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets and shells at Israeli military positions in the area at around 3:30 pm (1330 GMT) but without causing casualties.