Hizbullah resumed firing anti-tank rockets late Thursday afternoon at Israeli outposts along the Israeli Lebanese border, near Shebaa Farms region. Israeli artillery units returned fire.
Earlier, Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday accused Ahmed Jibril, the head of the PFLP-GC, of being behind the firing of Katyusha rockets into the northern Galilee over the last two days.
According to the prime minister, Jibril's organization - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command - which is based in Damascus, receives aid from Syria. Sharon said Damascus also had to be held responsible for the escalation on the northern border.
Sharon stressed that Hizbullah was operating against Israel on the northern border, with Iranian backing and encouragement, and that he also viewed Teheran as responsible for the growing tension.
The prime minister's remarks did not fully line up with those uttered earlier Thursday by Interior Minister Eli Yishai, who attended the security cabinet meeting, that Israel would react harshly and with the "utmost severity" to recent Hizbullah attacks.
"We saw that Syria is giving support and backing to what is going on," Sharon said during a visit to the Northern Command headquarters, a day after a soldier was seriously wounded in a Hizbullah attack on an Israeli border position.
"We are ready and prepared for all actions that we will take as required. We have no intention that the situation here will return to what it was," Sharon told reporters. He said the latest attacks also had "Iranian approval, Iranian assistance".
In another incident, three unarmed U.N. observers and two armed peacekeepers were hurt in scuffles with Hizbullah forces in southern Lebanon Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping force commander said.
According to AP, the scuffle broke out after an unarmed U.N. observer patrol reached the village of Mari, near the disputed Shebaa Farms area.
The observers — from Ireland, Norway and France — were confronted by Hizbullah gunmen who would not let them pass, a U.N. observer force officer said on condition of anonymity. An argument broke out, resulting in the gunmen beating up the observers.
A separate U.N. peacekeeping patrol — manned by armed Indian officers — was nearby at the time and intervened in the scuffle. This sparked a fist fight in which two Indians were hurt. Two U.N. vehicles were also damaged.
The Irish U.N. observer suffered head injuries and was taken to the Israeli side of the border for treatment. The two others were treated at the scene and released.
Hizbullah refused to comment to this report. But the commander of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, Gen. Lalit Tewari of India, said he received assurances from the guerillas that such incidents would not happen again. (Albawaba.com)
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