VARIOUS: ISRAELI MILITARY KILL TWO HAMAS MILITANTS DURING RAID ON WEST BANK, SHELL HIZBOLLAH GUERRILLAS IN LEBANON.

Record ID: 646052

  • Title: VARIOUS: ISRAELI MILITARY KILL TWO HAMAS MILITANTS DURING RAID ON WEST BANK, SHELL HIZBOLLAH GUERRILLAS IN LEBANON.
  • Date: 9th August 2003
  • Summary: (W5) MOUNT DOV, NEAR NORTHERN BORDER, ISRAEL (AUGUST 8, 2003) (REUTERS) LV/GV: FIELD ARTILLERY PIECES FIRING INTO LEBANON; SOLDIER POSITIONS IN AREA; ISRAELI FLAG PLANTED ON TOP OF HILLSIDE (5 SHOTS) (U4) BEIRUT, LEBANON (AUGUST 8, 2003) (REUTERS) MCU; (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NAEEM KASSEM, DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF HIZBOLLAH, SAYING: "When Israel decides to launch a broad attack and open the Lebanese front, the resistance will not stand by, it will respond and defend itself. We have repeated our statement that we will not allow Israel to attack Lebanon and for its attacks to be a promenade. Israel should know that it will pay the price of any operation." (EU) JENIN, WEST BANK (AUGUST 8, 2003) (REUTERS) MV: DOCTORS RUSHING PALESTINIAN INJURED IN CLASHES WITH ISRAELIS; DOCTORS TENDING TO WOUNDED PALESTINIANS; PEOPLE AROUND WOUNDED (6 SHOTS) (W5) HEBRON, WEST BANK (AUGUST 8, 2003) (REUTERS) GV/GV/PAN: PALESTINIAN YOUTHS WAVING PHOTOGRAPHS AND BANNERS DURING ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST CHANTING 'GOD IS GREAT'; STAMPING AND BURNING AMERICAN AND ISRAELI FLAGS; CROWD CHEERING; PROCESSION ADVANCING BEHIND YELLOW BANNER (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 24th August 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NABLUS, JENIN AND HEBRON, WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM/MOUNT DOV, NORTHERN BORDER, ISRAEL/ BEIRUT, LEBANON
  • City:
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2GAV535SDZ0NKRE39IG0GI0ND
  • Story Text: Months of relative calm have been broken by several attacks in the West Bank and on the Lebanese border with Israel.
    The militant Islamic group Hamas vowed to punish Israel over a West Bank raid on Friday (August 8) that killed two of its fighters and an Israeli soldier, but said it remained committed to a fragile month-old ceasefire.
    Palestinian medics in Nablus said two more Palestinians died in the violence - a man of 20 from bullet wounds after throwing stones at Israeli troops in a street protest over the raid and a 41-year-old bystander who inhaled tear gas sprayed by soldiers.
    An Israeli soldier was shot dead in the operation in Askar refugee camp in the city of Nablus, and violence also erupted along the Lebanon frontier, shattering months of calm.
    An Israeli field commander, who could be identified under army regulations only as Colonel Harel, said the raid was aimed at arresting two senior Hamas men planning attacks on Israelis.
    Senior Hamas political leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi told Reuters that Hamas would react to the incursion but said it stood by a three-month truce declared on June 29 in keeping with a U.S.-backed Middle East peace plan.
    Dore Gold, advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, blamed the Palestinian Authority for failing to curb Hamas operations against Israeli forces.
    "Israel continues to insist that the Palestinians continue to live up to its Road Map obligations and dismantle these types of explosives factories and disarm the Hamas terrorists. We're still waiting for the Palestinians to respond," Gold said.
    On Israel's northern frontier, Hizbollah, using anti-tank missiles, automatic weapons and mortar bombs, attacked Israeli army posts at Shebaa Farms for the first time in seven months.
    The guerrilla group regards the area as Lebanese territory. The United Nations says it is Israeli-occupied Syrian land.
    Israeli military sources said there were no Israeli casualties in the attack, launched six days after a boobytrapped car killed a Hizbollah official in Beirut in a blast that Hizbollah blamed on Israel.
    Witnesses in south Lebanon said Israeli aircraft responded with heavy strikes on the eastern and southern edges of the Lebanese border village of Kfar Shouba.
    Military sources said Israel fired artillery and Apache helicopter gunships took to the air to try to locate the source of Hizbollah fire.
    Hizbollah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, last attacked the Shebaa Farms area in January. Israeli troops withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation under daily assault by Hizbollah fighters.
    The Israeli army warned Syria and Lebanon on Friday that they will face the consequences unless they restrain Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas from further attacks on Israeli targets.
    Deputy Chairman of Hizbollah, Naeem Kassem, spoke from Beirut in Lebanon and said Hizbollah would always defend itself against Israeli attacks.
    "When Israel decides to launch a broad attack and open the Lebanese front, the resistance will not stand by, it will respond and defend itself. We have repeated our statement that we will not allow Israel to attack Lebanon and for its attacks to be a promenade. Israel should know that it will pay the price of any operation," he said.
    In addition to the bloodshed in Nablus's Askar refugee camp, a Palestinian gunman was seriously wounded in a clash with troops on the outskirts of Jenin.
    Witnesses said Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops next to Qadim settlement, east of Jenin.
    Israeli troops then responded with gunfire, hitting the al-Aqsa members.
    Two more al-Aqsa members were also injured, but were not in serious condition.
    Israeli-Palestinian violence has subsided dramatically since the truce began 33 months into a Palestinian uprising against Israel in pursuit of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
    Israel has been mounting occasional raids in the West Bank to detain wanted Palestinians, accusing militant groups that have killed hundreds of Israelis during the uprising of preparing for renewed hostilities once the truce period ends.
    Yet anger is mounting not least over Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners as part of the peace process.
    Palestinians say not enough are being released and in Hebron members of the militant Islamic Jihad held another demonstration burning American and Israeli flags. On Wednesday (August 6) Israel released more than 330 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to promote the U.S.-backed road map, but Palestinians are demanding that those still in prison be released as well.
    Waving portraits of the prisoners and burning American and Israeli flags, the protesters chanted "God is Great"
    and lifted guns in the air.
    Palestinians seek amnesty for all 6,000 prisoners in Israeli jails, calling it a test of Israel's commitment to peace moves.
    Right-wing Israelis opposed the release, fearing that those set free will turn to violence, although Israel has vowed not to release any prisoners who were involved in attacks against Israelis.
    yb/us
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