UN peacekeeper killed
January 28, 2015
A spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Andrea Tenenti, said the UN was looking into the peacekeeper's death.
The announcement came after the Lebanese Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for an attack on an Israeli military convoy. Israel has struck targets in southern Lebanon in return.
Israel's army said on Wednesday afternoon two soldiers were killed when an anti-tank missile was fired at military convoy near Mount Dov and Shebaa Farms, a disputed tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet.
Images broadcast on Israeli television showed large plumes of white smoke billowing out across the area.
Hezbollah said it had "targeted an Israeli military convoy in the Shebaa Farms, composed of several vehicles, which was transporting several Zionist soldiers and officers."
The group said the assault was carried out by a group calling itself the "heroic martyrs of the Quneitra." This suggests the attack was in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike on the Golan Heights on January 18, which killed six Hezbollah fighters.
The Israeli military said it responded to Wednesday's incident with fire towards Lebanese positions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond "forcefully."
"The IDF (army) is ready to act with force on any front," Netanyahu said.
Israel also denied a report from Lebanon's National News Agency that an Israeli soldier was captured in the Shebaa area on Wednesday.
"The rumor of abduction has been ruled out," Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman, said.
This comes several hours after Israel launched an air strike in Syria. Israel says its air force has struck Syrian army positions in reaction to rockets fired at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
jr/sgb (AP, dpa, Reuters)