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Hezbollah claims strike on Israeli post
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- The militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday it "scored a direct hit" against Israeli troops in a rocket and missile attack in the disputed Shebaa Farms area. Israel called the strike an attempt to escalate hostilities.
Israeli officials confirmed shelling on military positions and an exchange of fire, and said its forces had responded with airstrikes. The region is on the edge of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. (Map) It was the first such Hezbollah attack in more than four months. "The Islamic Resistance today attacked an Israeli post in Rouiessat el-Alan in the Shebaa Farms using missiles and rockets and have scored a direct hit," according to a Hezbollah statement. A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said, "This is a serious event, an attempt by the Hezbollah to escalate and ignite the northern frontier." There was no immediate word on casualties. Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, waged a campaign for 18 years against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon as a self-declared security zone. Israel withdrew its forces from Lebanon two years ago, but maintains a heavy military presence on Israel's northern frontier. Hezbollah is blamed for anti-Western and anti-Israeli terrorist acts dating from the early 1980s and is on the U.S. State Department's official list of terrorist organizations. Ha'aretz, the Israeli newspaper, reported that the strike came on the same day that a U.S. congressman met with Lebanese officials to help negotiate a swap of prisoners between Israel and Lebanon. U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, met with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Beirut and urged Hezbollah to let the International Committee of the Red Cross see four Israelis the group has detained, Ha'aretz reported.
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