Clashes on Israel-Lebanon border: six Israeli soldiers injured, Hezbollah claims to have captured two

Lebanese citizens run shortly after Israeli warplanes bombed Qasmiya Bridge near Tyre in south Lebanon July 12, 2006. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)

July 12, 2006

Ma'an News agency

Jerusalem- Ma'an- According to the latest news from south Lebanon, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in an attack on Wednesday morning on an Israeli military post, "Yankanton", on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Israel has not officially confirmed the capture of the two soldiers but according to Israeli sources, the missile attack injured 6 Israeli soldiers, two of them seriously, and Israelis living near the Lebanese border have taken shelter in bomb shelters for fear of missiles falling on their homes.

In an early response to the suspected capture of the two soldiers, Israeli warplanes bombarded a number of targets in southern Lebanon, reportedly including bridges and vital facilities.

The escalation on the northern front came just a few hours after Israel's failed targeted assassination of the Commander-General of the Hamas-affiliated Al Qassam Brigades, Muhammad Deif. The Israeli attack also destroyed a building in Gaza City and killed at least nine Palestinian citizens and injured many more, mostly women and children.

Media Sources reported, according to Hezbollah, that the operation was carried out in two stages. The first included the targeting of a military post, attacking it and capturing two Israeli soldiers from it. The second stage was intensive bombardment of the settlements and Israeli sites in the north to cover the raid of the military post.

The Israeli Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, recognized the capture of the two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah fighters, saying that the Lebanese government is responsible for their safety.

According to well-informed sources the operation killed seven Israeli soldiers and injured another 21 in addition to the capture of the two soldiers.

In the first Israeli reaction to the Hezbollah operation, Israeli warplanes bombarded a number of targets in southern Lebanon, including bridges and vital facilities. Among the known targets are the Az Zaririyah bridge and Al Qiqi'ayah bridge between the two cities of Sour and An Nabatiyah in addition to the electrical plant in southern Lebanon. According to media sources in southern Lebanon, the Israeli bombardment caused the deaths of at least two Lebanese citizens.

The reports also spoke of penetration by Israeli ground troops into Lebanese territory, including commando forces searching for the captured soldiers. Israel is mobilizing forces on the international border with Lebanon.

The Hezbollah fighters were able to destroy one Israeli Merkava tank using an explosive device injuring at least two soldiers, According to another news source the fighters attacked an Israeli military post in southern Lebanon, injuring an Israeli soldier.

In response to the Hezbollah operation, the Palestinian government represented by spokesman, Dr. Ghazi Hamad, said that the operation was natural reaction to Israel's crimes in Gaza. In Ma'an exclusive, Hamad expected a good opportunity to exchange prisoners after today, saying "What Hezbollah carried out was in support of the citizens in the Gaza Strip who are suffering from brutal ongoing Israeli aggression".

An Nasser Salah Addin Brigades, the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees, blessed the operations capturing Israeli soldiers on Wednesday in Lebanon. It called on the "Mujihaddin" of Hezbollah, headed by the Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to pursue release for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

In a first reaction of Hamas to the Hezbollah capture of the two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, the political leader in the movement, Osama Mazini said "If the Israeli enemy wants to live in peace it must be deal with the fair demands of the Palestinian and Arab people." He stated that the "Israeli refusal to the demands of Palestinian factions, the initiative of the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismael Haniyeh, and the solutions that were presented to solve the crisis of the captive Israeli soldier in Gaza, is the matter that led to the similar operations." On the question of whether there is any relationship between the two Islamic factions in Gaza and Lebanon, he said: "There is no relationship or association between the Islamic resistance in Palestine and Lebanon in terms of coordination and plans, but what they share is one goal because the enemy here and there is the same. Hezbollah also has prisoners in Israel, including Samir Al Qintar, so it has the right to do this and also because the Palestinian issue is the issue of the Arab nation."

In the same regard, the Al Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, "blessed the operation that the resisters of Hezbollah carried out." A spokesman for the Brigades, Abu Ahmad said "The operation of Hezbollah embarrassed the Zionist enemy, and confirmed the defeat of its army, which claims to be invincible".

The Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni responded to the attack by stating, "Israel views the government of Lebanon as responsible for today’s unprovoked aggression. There is an axis of terror and hate, created by Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas that wants to end any hope for peace. The world cannot let them succeed...We will fight back, in order to fight for peace."