Netanyahu Vows 'Forceful' Response if More Attacks from Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel views with "great gravity" the latest flare-up on the Lebanese border and pledged a tough response in the event of further incidents.
"We shall react forcefully to any attack against us," Netanyahu said in a statement. "I advise Hizbullah not to test Israel's strength. Hizbullah is once again endangering Lebanon due to its aggression."
Israel and Hizbullah fought a devastating month-long war in 2006.
Israel said earlier it had launched air strikes against Hizbullah observation posts in Lebanon after shots were fired from across the border towards its troops the previous evening.
A Hizbullah spokesman declined to comment.
Another member of the group, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said no Hizbullah positions were hit. He said shrapnel hit a structure belonging to Green Without Borders, an environmental NGO that Israel says is an arm of Hizbullah, allegations denied by the group.
The Hizbullah member would neither confirm nor deny that an attack had been launched from Lebanon.
Lebanon's Higher Defense Council, the country's top defense body, said it would file a complaint to the U.N. Security Council "over Israel's aggressions on Lebanon last night."
The border flare-up came hours after Lebanon rejected an Israeli call to reform the UN peacekeeping force which patrols the border ahead of a UN Security Council vote to renew its mandate.
The Israeli army had said earlier that a "security incident" was unfolding near Manara, a kibbutz near the UN-demarcated border between the two countries, and urged residents to take shelter.
It reported no Israeli casualties.
Manara was quiet on Wednesday morning, an AFP journalist reported. The army told residents they could come into the open and resume work in the fields.
Source: Agence France Presse, Naharnet, Associated Press
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/274424 |