Israel managed to destroy most of the permanent military
positions that Hizbullah had set up along the northern border
in the clashes on Sunday, the heaviest fighting since Israel
withdrew from southern Lebanon six years ago.
In the early morning hours of Sunday, May 28, 2006, several
Katyusha rockets were launched from Lebanese territory
towards Israel. The rockets hit an IDF base in northern
Israel, lightly wounding an IDF soldier and causing damage to
the base.
In response, the IDF carried out an aerial attack on two
command posts used by terror organizations in Lebanon, one of
which was also used as a storage facility for weaponry and
ammunition.
In the afternoon Hizbullah launched a large scale attack on
communities and military posts situated along the border with
Lebanon. Hizbullah attacked with sniper fire and machine gun
fire and launched Katyusha rockets and mortar shells at
Israeli targets. Israelis went into shelters to protect
themselves from the rocket barrage. An IDF soldier was
severely wounded in Kibbutz Manara during the attack.
In response to this unprovoked attack on Israel, the IDF
returned fire on outposts and additional Hizbullah targets
along the Lebanese border, with both aerial attacks and
artillery fire.
"Our main effort was to destroy the frontline that Hizbullah
has built in the last six years," Colonel Gal Hirsch said.
"We destroyed most of them," he told the Associated Press in
a telephone interview.
Hirsch said he has seen many Iranian Revolutionary Guards in
southern Lebanon. "Hizbullah is a wing of the Iranian effort
to create a frontline against the West," he said, noting that
Iranians train and supply Hizbullah fighters.
Hirsch said the IDF had been ready for a Hizbullah attack.
"We were waiting for them for weeks," he said.
Hizbullah is facing mounting international pressure to disarm
itself in accordance with UN decisions 425 and 1559. The
Foreign Ministry said that the attack on Sunday is an attempt
by the organization to escalate the situation along the
northern border.
Some analysts connected the fighting to tensions that rose
after a senior official in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was
killed in a car bomb in the southern Lebanese town of Sidon
on Friday. Israel has denied involvement but many
Palestinians and Lebanese did not accept the denials.
Israel has urged the Lebanese government to disarm militias
and send regular troops to the south, but the government has
refused. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that Israel has
"no intention" of causing an escalation in tensions on the
Israel-Lebanon border.
At the request of the Lebanese government, United Nations
peacekeepers brokered a cease-fire early Sunday evening
between Israel and Hizbullah.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, "We do not want any of our
civilians to be hurt; we also do not want any innocent
Lebanese civilians to be caught up in these exchanges of
fire. But I can say here that we will — without any
doubt — strike a painful blow at all those who try to
disrupt life in the north of the country."
The State of Israel said that it holds the Lebanese
government responsible for all attacks emanating from its
territory, and called upon the Lebanese government to act
without delay to implement the UN decisions in this
matter.
