Fighting broke out this morning on Israel’s northern border.
A day after rockets were fired at Eilat, loud explosions were reported on the northern border as Israeli and Lebanese forces engaged in massive exchanges of fire.
Security sources and witnesses in Lebanon said three Lebanese soldiers were killed in the clash.
The fire erupted after IDF soldiers performing routine operations in a border-area enclave within Israeli territory came under fire. Northern residents have reportedly been ordered to enter secured rooms and bomb shelters. Many locals informed Ynet of loud explosions heard in the region.
The Lebanese, of course, are saying that Israeli soldiers were on the Lebanese side of the border. The AP headline? A completely unbiased report on the situation.
Lebanese official says 2 soldiers dead in shelling
So, why did fighting break out? Three words: Hariri tribunal report. Hezbullah is looking to switch the world’s focus away from their assassination of Rafik Hariri.
Update: Lebanese Army forces opened fire in a prepared ambush on an IDF force clearing brush within Israeli territory, killing an senior IDF officer with sniper fire and seriously injuring another. IDF retaliation was immediate, killing 3 Lebanese troops and what was apparently a reporter. Fighting is ongoing, though to what extent is still unclear.
“Hezbullah is looking to switch the world’s focuse away from their assassination of Rafik Hariri.”
.. the AP/UN narrative (highly suspect) is that it was Syria that put a bomb under Hariri. The only conceivable alternative to this scenario is .. Hezbollah did it. Why? Because Hariri was an unambiguous representative of Saudi interests in Lebanon and a Sunni partisan t’boot. With that said, there is the complication of Hariri’s stated position on Hezbollah: he recognized them as de facto guardians of Lebanon’s southern border.
It is a *puzzler*, surely (popular novelist Don DeLillo tried to present an added dimension to Lebanese politics by adding a Maoist element [in “Mao II”]. while it was an admirable effort, his imaginings still fell short of Lebanese reality ..).