Lebanon’s Hezbollah TV reports attack on Israeli forces

Initial reports said that an explosive device was detonated at 3:15 P.M. The Israeli army responded with artillery fire.

According to Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman Brig-Gen Moti Almoz, the two vehicles hit during the incident were heavy armoured vehicles including a D-9 bulldozer.

The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah said on Monday that it had carried out an attack on an Israeli military border patrol in the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the Lebanon-Israel border.

Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as an armored patrol passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying a Humvee and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.

Lebanese security sources said Israel responded with artillery fire into two villages adjacent to the Shebaa Farms, but had no immediate information on damage or injuries.

Lebanese New TV said in a newsflash there had been reports of injuries from the shelling. Lebanon says the area is Lebanese territory, while the United Nations says it was annexed from Syria.

Hezbollah played a key role in Kantar’s release after 30 years in Israeli jails.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed in December to avenge for Kantar’s death, blaming Israel for staging the attack.

The group that carried out Monday’s attack was named after Kantar.

Border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have quickly escalated into all-out war in the past, with one cross-border raid by the group in 2006 touching off a month-long Israeli offensive that included a ground invasion and airstrikes that reached across all of Lebanon.