Hezbollah clashes with Israel on Leb border

Hezbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli troops in a disputed part of the south Lebanon border today, said Lebanese security officials and Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV channel.

The guerrillas attacked three Israeli positions in Chebaa Farms, an area where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet, the TV and Lebanese officials said.

Israeli forces responded by shelling suspected guerrilla hideouts near the town of Kfar Chouba in the vicinity of Chebaa Farms, Al Manar reported.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli Defence Force officials said Hezbollah carried out a co-ordinated attack, firing mortar shells and small arms at one of their bases in Chebaa Farms and also firing along the border.

The Israeli officials said there were Israeli casualties, but declined to be more specific.

Chebaa Farms has become the focus of Hezbollah attacks on Israeli forces since the Jewish state withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000.

Lebanon and Syria say Chebaa Farms is Lebanese territory, but UN cartographers who surveyed the border after the Israeli withdrawal in 2000 said it belongs to that part of Syria which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.