Israel, Lebanon exchange fire on border

TEL AVIV/BEIRUT - Tensions boiled over along the flashpoint Israel-Lebanese border Tuesday, as armies from both sides exchanged fire, amid conflicting reports on the origin of the clash.

An Israeli military spokesman said the violence began when Israeli troops in a strip of land between the border fence, and the so-called “blue line” which delineates the actual border, were fired upon by Lebanese soldiers.

Israeli media reports added that the Lebanese soldiers first ordered the Israeli troops to move, and opened fire when they did not.

A Lebanese army source said the clash broke out after the Israeli army tried to cut some trees inside Lebanese territory.

Other Lebanese officials said an Israeli tank fired a shell towards a house in the southern Lebanon border village of Adyisseh, prompting the Lebanese army to return fire.

A Lebanese army source told DPA that 10 Israeli artillery shells fell near an army post in Adissyeh.

Initial reports indicated that a Lebanese civilian and a soldier were injured in the clash.

A source inside Adissyeh told DPA that at least two houses were on fire.

He added that an Israeli jet fired two rockets on the hills of Adissyeh, setting a field on fire.

Reports that at least one Katyusha rocket had landed in Israel proved to be false, the radio said.

UN sources in southern Lebanon said that they were checking the incident.

The incident coincides with a “major speech” expected later Tuesday by Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organisation, whose men fought a bitter 33-day war with Israel in July and August 2006.

It also comes a day after unknown militants fired six rockets, most probably from the Sinai peninsula, toward the Israeli Red Sea port city of Eilat. One of the rockets landed in the neighbouring Jordanian city of Aqaba, killed one Jordanian.