Hezbollah attacks in the north over the weekend produced a sharply worded protest to the United Nations, an American warning to Syria and Lebanon and a veiled Israeli threat. Hezbollah attacked Israel Defense Forces bases Friday morning in the Har Dov region in the north, using mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and apparently also Katyusha rockets.
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The Hezbollah attacks, shattering more than six months of quiet on the northern border, also precipitated a U.S. warning to Syria and Lebanon, and a veiled threat of Israeli retaliation.
"Israel has no option but to take all steps needed to protect its citizens," declared the letter to UN Secretary-General Annan, which was also presented to Syria's ambassador to the UN, who serves this month as acting president of the Security Council. Hezbollah's shellings blatantly violate Security Council Resolution 425, Israel said, adding it holds the Syrian and Lebanese governments responsible for maintaining quiet on the northern border. The protest also directed blame at Iran for supplying weapons and support for Hezbollah.
The U.S. conveyed to the governments in Beirut and Damascus, America's worries about "escalation and provocation" planned by militant organizations based in Lebanon, State Department officials said. U.S. delegates asked Lebanese and Syrian officials to take steps to restrain Hezbollah, and prevent the firing of missiles at Israel.
In its strong message to Beirut and Damascus, the U.S. government emphasized that the national interests of Syria and Lebanon require the preservation of quiet on Israel's northern border, whose current status - following the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon - has been endorsed by the UN.
The U.S. also called on Lebanon to deploy its army in the country's south, to prevent additional Hezbollah offensives against Israel.
In the Friday morning attack, two rockets, reportedly Katyushas, fell in the northern Golan Heights, between two Druze villages, Masadeh and Majdal Shams.
Later on Friday, and also yesterday afternoon, Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at two towns on the northern border, Kiryat Shmona and Metula.
The Hezbollah shelling damaged IDF bases, and two Israeli residents in the north suffered from shock and were treated at the emergency health clinic in Kiryat Shmona.
The IDF Northern Commander, Major General Benny Gantz, threatened on Friday that the IDF will not be afraid to escalate fighting should Hezbollah provocation continue. IDF troops on the northern border remain on alert. The attack on Har Dov was the first of its kind since last January. But troops in the north had been on alert for two weeks, following the killing in Beirut of Hezbollah operative Ali Hassan Salah in a car explosion.
Hezbollah's shelling started at 9:40 A.M. on Friday and continued for over an hour. The IDF retaliated with artillery fire, concentrating its counter-attacks on Hezbollah targets north of Har Dov. Subsequently, the IDF used helicopters and combat planes to bombard Hezbollah targets in this area.
One of the two Hezbollah rockets that landed in the northern Golan Heights hit a peach orchard belonging to a Druze resident of Majdal Shams. Nobody in the Golan was injured by these missiles. An IDF officer said Friday that the strikes in the Majdal Shams area were not intentional, but the result of misfiring at Har Dov.
Northern Commander Gantz said Friday's attacks furnished additional proof "the Hezbollah terror organization, with the patronage of the Syrian and Lebanese governments, continues to act, despite the developments [war in Iraq]) which we've witnessed in recent months. We are not afraid of escalation."
Speaking at a press conference in Kiryat Shmona, Gantz added: "Those who need to be worried about escalation are [governments of] Syria, Lebanon, and the residents of Lebanon; the choice is entirely in their hands. We are prepared for escalation, but we do not seek unrest, and I recommend that the other side act in the same way.
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