Militants killed in cross-border fighting

A Lebanese guerrilla was killed and two Lebanese civilians were wounded in cross-border fighting today as Lebanese gunmen responded to Israeli airstrikes by attacking Israel, the Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV said.

A Palestinian militant was killed during a previous Israeli airstrike, the Lebanese army said.

A spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon known as UNIFIL, said that Israel and Hezbollah have agreed to halt the fighting.

“UNIFIL was in touch with all the parties during the day and succeeded in brokering a ceasefire,” said UNIFIL spokesman Milos Strugar.

“The ceasefire is respected by all the parties,” he said.

Al Manar TV said the ceasefire was supposed to be in effect now.

Nour Ashkar, a 14-year-old Lebanese girl, was wounded in her face by flying glass when her home in the town of Marjeyoun was hit by an Israeli airstrike, her relatives said.

Lebanese officials and Al Manar TV said Fuad Ali Hamad, a 28-year-old Lebanese, was wounded by Israeli artillery shelling of the border village of Aitaroun.

A wounded Israeli soldier was the only casualty on the Israeli side, Israel’s army said, denying earlier reports from Al Manar TV that an Israeli had been killed.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on an Al Manar’s report that Hezbollah guerrillas bombed Israel’s Galilee military headquarters.

The militant Hezbollah group fired rockets at Israeli military positions in the disputed Chebaa Farms, triggering Israeli artillery bombardment and airstrikes against suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Lebanon, Lebanese and Israeli security officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned that Israel would hit back hard if guerrillas in Lebanon continue firing on Israel’s north.

Olmert said he hoped Israel’s initial response, airstrikes against two Palestinian bases near Beirut, would bring an end to the attacks.

“They will receive a clear and harsh response with no hesitation if they do not stop,” Olmert warned. Shortly before Olmert spoke, the army ordered Israelis in two towns near the border with Lebanon into bomb shelters.

The Lebanese officials said Israeli forces shelled suspected guerrilla bases in villages near the Chebaa Farms after their positions came under rocket attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas.

The Hezbollah-Israeli fighting came hours after Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian militant bases in Lebanon, killing one Palestinian guerrilla and wounding at least six in response to a rocket attack on northern Israel earlier today, the Lebanese officials said.

The Lebanese army said in a statement that six rockets were fired at a base in eastern Lebanon while several others hit a base near the Mediterranean coast. “Lebanese army anti-aircraft units opened fire at the hostile warplanes,” the statement said.

The jets targeted two militant command posts, one of which was used as a storage facility for weaponry and ammunition, the Israeli army said.

The planes carried out three raids on a base of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command in Sultan Yacoub, a village about three miles from the Syrian border, Lebanese officials said.

Lebanese Red Cross ambulances entered the Sultan Yacoub base to evacuate a dead militant and five wounded, the officials said.

The jets then carried out air raids on the hills outside the town of Naameh, 12 miles south of Beirut, where the PFLP-GC Palestinian militant group also has bases.

“Israel attacked this morning one of our positions in the western sector of the (eastern) Bekaa Valley. There are damages but for now it is difficult to know how much,” said Anwar Raja, the PFLP-GC representative in Lebanon.

Raja later told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV that one guerrilla was killed and six wounded. He did not say whether the casualties were in Sultan Yacoub or Naameh.

The airstrike came hours after guerillas in Lebanon fired rockets at northern Israel. One soldier was lightly wounded in the rocket attack, the Israeli army said.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah group, which is known to have thousands of rockets in southern Lebanon, had no comment on the attack.

A senior Israeli military official said six to eight Katyusha rockets were fired at Israel overnight.

At least three of them fell in Israeli territory, about five miles from the Lebanese border near the northern town of Tsfat.

One of the rockets fell inside a military base on top of Mount Miron, the Israeli official said. Mount Miron is the burial place of several famous rabbis and is considered holy by many Jews.

The rocket attack came two days after a car bomb killed two officials from the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad in southern Lebanon. Islamic Jihad blamed Israel for the bombing and vowed to retaliate harshly.

Islamic Jihad’s representative in Lebanon, Abu Imad Rifai, refused to comment on the rocket attack today.

The Israeli official said the army believed the rocket attack could have been in retaliation to the assassination of the Islamic Jihad officials, which Israel denies responsibility for.

“The State of Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any terror attack emanating from its territory, and will respond severely to such attacks,” the Israeli army said in a statement.

Israel will present a complaint against Lebanon to the UN Security Council over the rocket attack, a Foreign Ministry official said.

“We have instructed our delegation at the UN to present a formal complaint against Lebanon to the president of the Security Council,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

Regev said Lebanon must comply with Security Council resolutions calling on Lebanese militias to disarm. “As long as these extremist groups remain armed, they are a threat to stability,” he said.

A United Nations official in southern Lebanon said the international body had opened an investigation into the militant attack.