WND EXCLUSIVE

HEZBOLLAH ATTACKS NORTHERN ISRAEL

Israeli forces respond by shelling southern Lebanon

Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV — The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization claimed responsibility today for a series of attacks on northern Israel as the Israel Defense Forces responded with artillery fire, shelling targets inside southern Lebanon.

“In response to Hezbollah attacks today, the IDF responded with combined aerial and ground strikes at Hezbollah operational positions,” an IDF spokesman told WND.

The IDF reported mortars hit a military position on Israel’s Mount Hermon, which houses a military base as well as a civilian ski site.

“The IDF is evacuating civilians from the site and closing the site,” the army stated.

In another attack at about the same time, an anti-tank missile hit an IDF vehicle in the Har Dov area near the Lebanon border, killing two soldiers and wounding an additional seven, two of them moderately, the IDF told WND.

The attacks prompted an IDF response. There are reports a Spanish UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon) soldier was killed in the ensuing shelling in southern Lebanon.

It was not immediately clear whether the UNIFIL soldier was killed by Hezbollah fire or return IDF assaults. UNIFIL said it was investigating the incident.

Another one of Hezbollah’s mortars fired from Lebanon fell short and struck a home in Ghajar, a village that straddles the border, Israel’s Haaretz reported.

Indicating the Hezbollah attack was premeditated, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported Hezbollah had evacuated its facilities along the border last night, apparently expecting Israeli retribution.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told reporters Israel should react in a “forceful and disproportionate manner” to the Hezbollah attacks. He was speaking from Beijing, where he was meeting with China’s foreign minister.

Lieberman argued China would similarly not stand for such attacks without a major response.

IDF spokesman Moti Almoz said the military holds Hezbollah accountable for the attacks and announced the IDF’s shelling of targets in south Lebanon “would not necessarily be the final response to this incident.”

Israel has been on alert and anticipating retaliation after an Israeli official took the unusual step of acknowleding his country was responsible for a strike 10 days ago on a Hezbollah convoy near the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.

The attack killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Mohammed Allahdadi as well as a Hezbollah commander and the son of the group’s late military leader, Imad Muughniyeh. Hezbollah said six of its members died in the strike.

Reuters quoted a senior Israeli security source Tuesday stating Iran’s Allahdadi was not the intended target of the strike and that Israel believed it was attacking only low-ranking Hezbollah members who were about to carry out an attack on the border.

Asked if Israel expected Iranian or Hezbollah retaliation, the source told Reuters: “They’re almost certain to respond. We’re anticipating that, but I think it’s a fair assumption that a major escalation is not in the interest of either side.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/01/hezbollah-attacks-northern-israel/#Gt7JhqubsE2HZA8e.99