TEL AVIV Ñ After five months of quiet, Hizbullah has launched a
missile and mortar attack on an Israeli military base along the northern
border with Lebanon.
Israeli military sources said Hizbullah fired at least 50 anti-tank
missiles and mortars toward a military outpost in the disputed Shebaa
Plateau. The sources said nobody was injured, but the Hizbullah fire caused
significant damage to the facility.
Israeli artillery and aircraft responded with a barrage in southern
Lebanon. There were no reports of casualties. Lebanese sources reported that
Israel resumed artillery fire toward southern Lebanon on Wednesday.
The Hizbullah attack shattered five months of quiet around the Shebaa
Plateau, claimed by Hizbullah to be Lebanese territory. Hizbullah did not
immediately claim credit for the barrage.
At the same time, Israeli police captured a vehicle filled with 300
kilograms of explosives and gas cannisters in northern Israel. The car was
stopped near the Israeli city of Umm El Fahm and four people fled the scene
in what officials termed was a plan to blow up an Israeli civilian
installation.
Israeli officials said Hizbullah has been restrained by Syria from
heating up the Israeli-Lebanese northern border. They said Hizbullah has
sought to open a second front with Israel as a U.S.-led war against Iraq
appears imminent.