ISRAEL STRIKES BACK AT HIZBALLAH

Israeli Warplanes Hit Targets in Lebanon.
JERUSALEM - Israeli said its warplanes struck in Lebanon on Tuesday in what Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz described as the largest-scale Israeli response to cross-border attacks by Lebanese guerrillas since 2000. Mofaz spoke just hours after Israeli fighter jets attacked a command post of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon and after army bulldozers entered Lebanon to demolish a Hezbollah post just north of the community of Ghajar.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese army denied Israeli warplanes struck in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. Israeli warplanes struck a number of Hezbollah targets Monday, Israeli security officials said.

The Israeli strike came a day after the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah fired mortars and rockets toward the Israeli-Lebanese border, wounding 11 Israeli soldiers and damaging a house in an Israeli border community. The shelling sent thousands of Israeli civilians into bomb shelters. Israeli return fire killed four Hezbollah guerrillas.

SEE ALSO: 11 Israelis Injured, 4 Hizballah Terrorists Killed in Failed Kidnap Attempt on Lebanese Border - Amos Harel
At least four Hizballah terrorists were killed Monday trying to kidnap soldiers from IDF outposts on the Lebanese border, and seven soldiers and four civilians were wounded in a series of clashes. Hizballah launched simultaneous attacks on several areas along the northern border. With artillery fire as a diversion, Hizballah cells infiltrated the village of Ghajar, part of which is inside Israeli territory, and attacked a post manned by Israeli soldiers at the southern entrance to the village. The soldiers killed four gunmen. In the firefight, several IDF soldiers and four Israeli citizens, residents of Ghajar, were wounded.

The Hizballah shelling continued throughout the afternoon, as a large number of Katyusha rockets and mortar shells fell in Kiryat Shmona, Metula and other northern settlements. Galilee panhandle and Western Galilee residents spent several hours in bomb shelters for the first time since the Israeli military withdrew from Lebanon in May 2000. Defense Minister Mofaz said, "We believe the Syrians and the Iranians are behind the Hizballah fire, using the escalation on the border to direct the spotlight on Israel and away from Syria, which is under tremendous international pressure." (Ha'aretz)