By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
May 07, 2004
Israel’s northern border continued to heat up for the third straight day when Hizballah terrorists killed an Israeli soldier and wounded eight others in an early morning artillery assault on the Har Dov region of the Golan Heights Friday.
Reports indicated the cross-border fighting was so heavy the army was unable to evacuate some of the wounded.
The attack lasted for more than two hours, and Israel responded with air strikes and artillery barrages on Hizballah positions in southern Lebanon.
Israeli forces along the border remain on high alert.
On Thursday, IDF troops stationed on Har Dov repulsed an attack by at least two groups of Hizballah gunmen.
Military analysts have long cautioned that increased Hizballah belligerence remains the most likely trigger for another full-scale Israeli-Arab war.
Cross-border assault
At approximately 4:30 AM IST Hizballah forces stationed in southern Lebanon unleashed a massive artillery assault on IDF positions in the Har Dov region of the Golan Heights.
The attack lasted until just after 7 AM, and resulted in the death of one Israeli soldier. Eight others were wounded, two seriously.
Hizballah’s Al-Manar TV said the group started shelling Israeli positions after a group of IDF commandos crossed the international border.
‘Hit Syria and Lebanon’
Israel responded to the early morning barrage by launching air strikes and artillery attacks on Hizballah positions in southern Lebanon.
But at least two Knesset members called on the government to retaliate against the Lebanese and Syrian governments, who are responsible for allowing Hizballah to continue operating against Israel.
"I would aim the sights at the Lebanese government, who need finally to take responsibility [for southern Lebanon]," Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Yuval Steinitz told Israel Radio.
MK Ephraim Sneh of the opposition Labor Party said that "Syria, and not Lebanon, is the one who gives Hizballah permission to carry out these actions.”
Sneh told the radio that Syria "needs to be reminded of the results of these actions…similar to how we've reminded them in the past.”
Military analysts have long warned that continued Hizballah activity against Israel remains the most likely trigger for another full-scale Israeli-Arab war.
The international community has demanded Lebanon and Syria curb Hizballah activity and dismantle the group’s military capabilities. Both nations have openly refused to comply.
Unrecognized justification
Hizballah insists the Har Dov region is Lebanese territory, and uses this claim as justification for continued attacks on northern Israel.
But the United Nations in 2000 confirmed that Israel had made a complete withdrawal from Lebanon, and stated that Har Dov was part of the Golan Heights, seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War.
Despite this, the world body has taken no action against Hizballah or its patrons in Beirut, Damascus and Tehran for the ongoing cross-border belligerence.
Israel, however, is regularly condemned for responding to Hizballah aggression.