Israel expects more Hizbullah attacks from Lebanon
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Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, July 3, 2001
JERUSALEM Ñ Israel expects Hizbullah to continue attacks on military
positions along the border with Lebanon.
Israeli officials said the weekend attacks and retaliations mark the
start of an escalation launched by Hizbullah with the approval of Iran
and Syria. The officials said Hizbullah is prepared to initiate attacks and
then respond to any Israeli retaliation.
"This is not the first we're going to hear of this," an Israeli military
source said. "We are going to hear a lot more from Hizbullah over the next
few weeks."
But other military sources said they don't expect Hizbullah to widen the
conflict to include Israeli communities in the north. Hizbullah has deployed
a network of missiles and rockets along the border with Israel and some of
these weapons can strike the outskirts of Haifa.
The assessment is that Hizbullah will seek to limit attacks on Israeli
soldiers along the border. But the attacks could expand from the current
area of Hizbullah attacks Ñ the Shebaa plateau.
"Syria enables the accelerated arming of Hizbullah in Lebanon," an
Israeli Cabinet statement said.
During the latest Israeli attack on a Syrian radar station on Sunday,
two Syrians and a Lebanese soldier were injured. The Israeli air raid
included F-16s and the upgraded F-4 Phantom jet.
"We had no alternative but to respond," Defense Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer said.
The Hizbullah responded with an anti-tank and mortar salvo toward
Israeli positions
at Shebaa. Nobody was injured.
Israeli military sources said the latest attack on a Syrian radar
position was again meant to warn Damascus against supporting Hizbullah
attacks. The sources said Israel has ended its policy of targeting Lebanese
civilian installations Ñ such as power stations Ñ in response to Hizbullah
attacks. This policy began in 1993 during the administrations of
prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud
Barak.
The sources said Israel does not seek an escalation and hopes that
Damascus will act against Hizbullah. For their part, Syrian sources said
Damascus will retaliate in a place and time determined by the Assad regime.
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