Tension flares up along Lebanon-Israel border

Agencies | Jerusalem

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Threats of yet another war are looming large over the region, with Israel and Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah exchanging barrages of rockets and artillery fire across the border, amid wider regional tensions with Iran.

Israel said it did not wish to escalate to a full war, though it was ready for one. Hezbollah said it had targeted open ground near Israeli forces in retaliation for Israeli airstrikes that had also struck open areas.

“Our understanding is that Hezbollah deliberately aimed at open areas in order not to escalate the situation,” Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Amnon Shefler told reporters.

The flare-up, which has caused no casualties, followed an alleged Iranian attack on an Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf last week in which two crew members, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed.

Tehran denied involvement. With the Islamic Republic facing the possibility of Israeli or international action in response to the Gulf incident, the violence has flared across a border that has long been a theatre of conflict between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel.

The salvoes began on Wednesday with a rocket strike on Israel from Lebanon for which no group claimed responsibility. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said the situation was very serious and urged all parties to ceasefire. The Israeli military said its Iron Dome system intercepted 10 of 19 rockets yesterday, with six falling in open areas and three inside south Lebanon. Israel and Hezbollah fought a one-month war in 2006.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said he was consulting with his defence and military chiefs over the violence. The military said it had struck “the rocket launch sites in Lebanon” on Friday in response to Hezbollah’s salvoes.

Security analysts have long cited the risk of Israeli entanglement in a multi-front war with Iran, which also backs Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip with whom Israel waged an 11-day conflict in May.

Israel says it is rallying global action against Iran over last week’s attack on a tanker off the coast of Oman but is willing to act alone if necessary. The United States and Britain say they will work with their allies to respond to the attack.

Britain will raise the tanker attack off the coast of Oman during a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting later on Friday, diplomats said, but the 15-member body is not expected to take any action.