One dead as Hezbollah shells Israel

Hezbollah guerrillas fired shells over northern Israel, killing one person and injuring four, officials said today.

Three 57 mm anti-tank shells were fired at the town of Shlomi, near the Israeli-Lebanese border, a senior Israeli security official said.

The militant group Hezbollah said in Lebanon that it had fired anti-aircraft shells at Israeli fighter jets flying over southern Lebanon.

One man died and four people were hurt, one seriously, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

Dore Gold, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the shelling constituted “unbridled escalatory attacks ... an intolerable state of affairs.”

The Lebanese militant group, which is backed by Iran and Syria, routinely responds to Israeli air force flights over Lebanon with anti-aircraft fire, but tensions have worsened in recent days.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom demanded that Syria and Lebanon restrain Hezbollah militants, or ”we will have no choice but to defend ourselves.”

On Friday Israel and Hezbollah exchanged artillery fire over a disputed area near the confluence of the Syrian, Lebanese and Israeli borders – the first such exchange in eight months.

Hezbollah said Friday’s shelling was retaliation for the killing on August 2 of Hezbollah security official Ali Hussein Saleh by a bomb in his car south of Beirut. Hezbollah blames Israel for his death.

Anti-aircraft shells also fell yesterday on the northern town of Kiryat Shemona, but no injuries were reported.

Hezbollah, which is on the US State Department’s list of terrorist organisations, led a guerrilla war against Israel’s 18-year occupation of a border zone in southern Lebanon that ended in May 2000.

Shalom held Lebanon and Syria – which dominates Lebanese policy-making - responsible for Hezbollah’s actions.

“We say to Syria and Lebanon as responsible parties for Hezbollah behaviour ... that if Hezbollah activities continue and constitute an undermining of security of the citizens of Israel, we will have no choice but to defend ourselves,” Shalom said. He declined to elaborate.

“We don’t want to use the language of threats now and say what we will do and how we will do it,” he said. “I think the regime in Syria knows very well what our capabilities are, and I don’t think it’s worthwhile for it to put us to the test.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan holding the Syrian and Lebanese governments responsible for Hezbollah’s “acts of terror,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yonatan Peled said yesterday.

American diplomats also told Lebanon and Syria that the administration was concerned about the “calculated and provocative escalation” by Hezbollah, State Department deputy spokesman Philip T Reeker said.

Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheik Naeem Qassem said that Hezbollah “is fully prepared and ready to respond in the proper manner to any Israel aggression or threat.”