29th Jan 2015 06:25
Tel Aviv/Beirut (Alliance News) - Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish UN peacekeeper were killed Wednesday in the deadliest exchange of fire between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militia since a 2006 war.
The fighting comes 10 days after an alleged Israeli airstrike targeted members of Hezbollah on the Syrian-controlled side of the Golan Heights.
According to the Israeli military, the Iranian-backed Shiite movement launched five anti-tank missiles at an Israeli convoy that was driving along the border near the village of Ghajar on the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights.
Two Israeli military vehicles were hit directly. A 25-year-old captain and 20-year-old sergeant were killed in the first vehicle. Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded, military spokesman Peter Lerner said.
A sixth missile hit the area of Ghajar.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the 11:25 am (0925 GMT) strikes.
Israel responded with artillery fire at Hezbollah positions in south-eastern Lebanon. At least one position was struck from the air.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy confirmed that a Spanish member of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) was killed in the exchange of fire.
At an emergency meeting in New York, the UN Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms" the killing of the peacekeeper, said Cristian Barros Melet, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations and current president of the council.
Roman Oyarzun Marchesi, Spanish ambassador to the UN, told reporters that the fire that killed the Spanish blue-helmet "came from the Israeli side."
Neither the Security Council nor the office of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon confirmed which party was responsible for the peacekeeper's death.
Ban was "deeply concerned" over the deteriorating security situation along the Israel-Lebanon border and called for "maximum calm and restraint," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Israeli and Lebanese authorities evacuated schools on both sides of the border, and the Mount Hermon ski site on the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan was cleared. Local residents reported loud blasts, and roads in the area were closed.
The Israeli military has been on high alert along the border with Lebanon and Syria since the January 18 airstrikes that targeted Hezbollah in the area of Quneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan.
Among the six Hezbollah members killed in that strike was Jihad Mughniyeh, son of the group's military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, who was slain in a 2008 car bombing in Damascus, which Hezbollah also blamed on Israel.
Iranian state media said at the time that a senior officer in the elite Revolutionary Guard was among the dead in the Golan.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it carried out the airstrike.
Israel captured the western part of the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu charged that "Iran with the help of Hezbollah is trying to open another terror front against us from the Golan Heights."
"Those who are behind today's attack will pay the full price," he said, before going into an emergency meeting with his defence and military chiefs.
UNIFIL confirmed that it observed six rockets launched toward Israel and Israeli retaliatory artillery fire in the same area.
Israel said it has conveyed its condolences to UNIFIL for the peacekeeper's death.
Lebanese Prime Minister Tamam Salam said his country was abiding by a UN resolution that ended the 34 days of deadly fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.
Lebanese armed forces leader Samir Geagea criticized the Hezbollah operation, charging that the movement had "no right to involve the Lebanese Army and government in a battle with Israel."
The attack could have "dangerous repercussions" for Lebanon, he warned.
Describing the attack as a "victorious operation," Hezbollah followers waving the movement's yellow flags celebrated in their stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs and near a defunct gate on the Israel-Lebanon border.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to give a speech on Friday.
Copyright dpa