Hizbullah rockets hit Israeli (military) posts

[Aidoneus]

Hizbullah rockets hit Israeli posts

Reuters in Lebanon
Tuesday October 28, 2003
The Guardian

Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas and Israel traded fire in a disputed border area yesterday in the latest sign of rising tension between Syria and Israel.

Witnesses and security sources said Hizbullah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, attacked Israeli posts in Shebaa Farms, near the border between Lebanon, Israel and the Golan Heights.

The attack drew at least five Israeli air strikes and heavy shelling on several Lebanese border villages.

--snip--

Hizbullah said on its al-Manar television station that the attacks were in response to Israeli air raids on liberated Lebanese areas.

--snip--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1072312,00.html

[La_Serpiente]

1. Wholly shit

that's a name I haven't heard for awhile. Things are going to get even uglier.

[Aidoneus]

2. the timing is a bad sign,

but this happens from time to time. The US-backed Israeli air force frequently flies warplanes in provocative violations of airspace over the whole of Lebanon, and on occasion Hizbullah fires on military positions in the Israeli-occupied lands on the SE border in response to these or other reasons. Sometimes it escalates over a day or two into a small artillery duel, some Israeli military positions in the occupied lands hit with mortars/light artillery and the latter responding by rocketing south Lebanon villages, then it dies down for a month or two. Up until August Shebaa was quiet back up to January of this year, but IAF jets over Lebanon have been very active as of late (all spring/summer, actually).

Considering the timing, the occupation of Iraq and the hostile barking out of Israel's backers on this side of the Atlantic, and particularly the escalation against Syria recently, this may lead to something more than the past, or nothing out of the ordinary aside from low-level exchanges. The last being my bet, as none of the involved parties--Israel, Lebanon, Syria, US--can really stand for any protracted conflict and thus react with nervous rhetoric and random outbursts, rather than any clear and defined path towards a war.

[Aidoneus]

3. more pieces nominally on the subject..

don't feel like starting a new thread about these, there are enough threads in this forum already..

Israel Orders Army to Standby for Action Against Lebanon

Israel said Tuesday its army was ordered to standby for a retaliation to Hizbullah's latest cross-border attacks "so severe that the Lebanese will wish they are citizens of Israel, not Lebanon."
The alert was ordered by Israel's northern front commander Lt. Gen. Benny Ganz following three hours of air and land hostilities in the disputed Shabaa farms border zone at the foothills of Mount Herman along the southern flank of Syria's Golan Heights.

The Israeli army said one Israeli soldier was lightly wounded and one Hizbullah military vehicle was destroyed by F-16 fighter-bombers, which staged four bombing runs behind a massive tank canon bombardment targeting the environs of the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Shouba.

Hizbullah said four Israeli army outposts took direct missile hits in the attacks that marked the advent of Islam's holy month of Ramadan. It was Party of God's first mortar and missile assault in the zone in two months.

--snip--

"They will all pay--Syria, Lebanon and Hizbullah. But Lebanon surely will get the brunt. The Lebanese will wish they are citizens of Israel, not Lebanon," Ganz told a news conference he held at his command headquarters in the Galilee panhandle minutes after the border flare-up died down.

Military analysts of Tel Aviv newspapers were unanimous Tuesday in ruling out a major Israeli response against Lebanon despite the Ganz threat. They said Monday's incident was of a minor dimension militarily and casualties-wise "not worth risking a confrontation that could set the Middle East ablaze."

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/Newsdesk.nsf/Story/830DD9E155636718C2256DCD002AC133?OpenDocument&PRINT

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Hizbullah hits Israeli posts in Shebaa
Resistance attacks 3 positions, draws artillery barrage in response

Nicholas Blanford
Special to The Daily Star

Hizbullah launched a heavy bombardment of Israeli outposts in the Shebaa Farms Monday, signaling business as usual despite the party’s anticipated agreement with Israel on an exchange of prisoners.

The Israeli outposts of Rweisat al-Alam, Jabal al-Sammaqa and Ramtha were hit with mortars and short-range 107mm Katyusha rockets at 3.30pm. Israeli artillery guns along the border shelled the area around Kfar Shuba facing the targeted outposts and the outskirts of Kfar Hamam, Rashaya al-Fakahr and Halta. Thirty minutes later, Hizbullah fired further rockets and mortar rounds at the positions. Israel retaliated with an air raid against two locations outside Kfar Shuba. Security sources said that Hizbullah fired in all around 80 mortar shells and Katyushas. The Israelis fired some 200 rounds of 155mm artillery. No casualties were reported.

It was the first attack in the occupied mountainside since Aug. 8 and comes at a time of high regional tension.

Earlier this month, Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Palestinian training camp 15 kilometers from Damascus, the first such attack in 30 years. Syria has vowed to respond if Israel conducts a similar attack. Hizbullah has been placed on alert along the border in expectation of a flare-up in hostilities.

--snip--

http://www.lebanonwire.com/0310/03102813DS.asp

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and unfortunately, that prisoner exchange mentioned above seems to be stalling.. on that:--

Hizb Allah warns Israel on detainees
Wednesday 29 October 2003

Exasperated with perceived Israeli stalling on a prisoner swap deal, Lebanon's Hizb Allah has vowed to take action to bring home its detainees - with or without negotiations.

"Our message is clear. Time is passing. I want to say clearly that Hizb Allah will not bear more procrastination," Hizb Allah's secretary general, Sayyid Hasan Nasr Allah, said on Tuesday.

Nasr Allah's comments are significant because experience shows his threats of action are almost invariably carried out.

The Hizb Allah has been in talks with Israel through German mediators for months over the exchange of three Israeli soldiers presumed dead and a businessman for about 15 Lebanese, hundreds of Palestinians and scores of other Arabs held in Israel.

--snip--

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/486947B4-17BF-4C01-BB1A-4294AAFCBE22.htm

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