Top > World > 2006 > July > 2006-07-13

Israel Responds to Terrorism From Lebanon

It looks as if the Middle East, already on edge after the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier three weeks ago and subsequent Israeli efforts to retrieve him in the Gaza Strip, might be approaching the brink of yet another major conflict as the past day has seen Hizbullah terrorists based out of southern Lebanon, to Israel?s north, fire missiles into Israel and kidnap two more Israeli soldiers. Hizbullah, which has been the subject of a UN resolution demanding that Lebanon disarm militias and take control of its southern portion away from it, has been known to launch missiles and kidnap soldiers before.

Proving that the events in the Gaza Strip to the south and now in the north of Israel are connected, Hizbullah-controlled Al-Manar TV reported that the terror group has demanded the release of thousands of prisoners in exchange for the two soldiers kidnapped on Wednesday and Corporal Gilad Shalit, kidnapped after a Palestinian terrorist attack in late June. Hizbullah has members in the Lebanese parliament, and Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert declared that Wednesday?s events constituted an ?act of war? committed by a sovereign state (Lebanon) against the State of Israel.?

Israeli troops had entered southern Lebanon searching for their missing comrades not long after Hizbullah first took them, and the Israeli government was calling up reserves to take up positions on the Israeli-Lebanese border. In 2000, Israel withdrew from the security corridor it held for decades in southern Lebanon following Lebanon?s civil war and the frequent terrorist attacks launched by Palestinian and Hizbullah terrorists into Israel from Lebanese territory.