Hezbollah claims attack on Israeli troops who had crossed border
Hezbollah detonated Monday several explosive devices, inflicting casualties among an Israeli infantry brigade as it crossed the Lebanese-Israeli border.
The group said in a statement that it had planted the devices in the Tal Ismail area on the Lebanese side of the border and that it detonated the devices when a Golani Brigade force unit tried to cross the border.
The statement added that Hezbollah was "carefully monitoring and anticipating the movements of the Israeli forces."
The Israeli military confirmed that four soldiers were injured and said it was investigating the incident.
It said the soldiers were wounded in an explosion during an operation on the northern border and that one of the soldiers was seriously injured.
The army later said the soldiers were wounded on the Lebanese side of the frontier.
It was the first time Hezbollah claimed such an attack in six months of near daily cross-border clashes with Israel since the Gaza war broke out.
The incident came as tensions soared over Iran's missile and drone attacks from late Saturday on Israel in retaliation for a deadly strike on Tehran's consulate in Damascus.
Israeli warplanes and artillery bombed Monday the southern border towns of Dhayra, al-Labbouneh, al-Naqoura, Kfarkela, Alma al-Shaab and Aita al-Shaab, some of them with white phosphorus bombs.
Overnight, a strike on a house in Siddiqin had injured nine people, the National News Agency said.
The violence flaring between Israel and Hezbollah has largely been contained to the border area.
It has killed at least 364 people in Lebanon, mostly Hezbollah fighters but also including at least 70 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
In Israel, the military says 10 soldiers and eight civilians have been killed since hostilities began.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled their homes on both sides of the border.
Source: Naharnet
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