Jerusalem, Oct 14 (EFE).- Israeli forces killed a group of militants on Saturday that tried to cross into Israel from Lebanon, a military spokesperson said, amid cross-border tensions due to the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that governs the Gaza Strip.
“Army soldiers identified a terrorist cell that tried to infiltrate from Lebanon into Israeli territory. An Israeli forces drone targeted the cell and killed several of the terrorists,” said the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman.
Since Sunday, the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and Palestinian factions in Lebanon have launched several rocket and missile fire towards Israel, which has responded with artillery and tank fire.
In the Mediterranean city of Haifa, close to the Lebanese border, several explosions were heard after the Israeli army intercepted “two unidentified targets,” apparently drones, in the air. Later, in the nearby town of Shfar’am, Israeli forces identified another drone.
In southern Lebanon, the Israeli army attacked a “Hezbollah terrorist target in response to the infiltration” of drones on Israeli soil, as well as Israeli drone fire, a military spokesman said.
On Friday, Israeli forces responded with artillery and tank shells to fire from Lebanon on its military posts, which Hezbollah claimed responsibility for.
The Lebanese army, for its part, said the Israeli attacks struck one of its watchtowers outside the town of Alma al Shaab.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas, which de facto rules the Gaza Strip, began a week ago, exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and militias in Lebanon have left three dead among Israeli troops and as many others in the ranks of Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
In addition, two of the Israeli attacks have affected facilities of the Lebanese army, which is not formally involved in the conflict.
Israel waged a war in 2006 against Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. The neighboring countries remain technically at war, separated by the so-called Blue Line, a boundary demarcated by the UN. EFE
yo/ks
