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Israeli leaders hopes to defuse Lebanese powderkeg

Israeli girls light memorial candles forming in Hebrew the name of Haviv Dadon on the site where he was killed on Sunday in Shlomi. PHOTO: AFP

Israel threatened Syria yesterday after Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon fired anti-aircraft shells that killed an Israeli teenager on Israel's northern border, but said it hoped to defuse tension through diplomacy.

Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Zeev Boim said Israel held Syria, the main powerbroker in Lebanon, responsible for Hezbollah's actions.

"Syria is definitely the umbilical cord from which Hezbollah feeds," he told Army Radio. "If there is escalation from their side, there will be definitely be a clear military response from Israel that could inevitably be against Syrian targets."

The death of the 16-year-old in the Israeli border town of Shlomi on Sunday was the first fatality from Hezbollah shelling since Israel withdrew its forces from south Lebanon in May 2000 after a 22-year occupation, amid daily attacks by the group.

Israeli warplanes bombed an anti-aircraft battery on the edge of a south Lebanon village on Sunday in retaliation for the Shlomi shelling. Israeli warplanes later flew over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier.

Israel called the air raids a "warning signal" and Boim appeared to signal in his comments that Israel did not for now plan further military action. He said diplomatic pressure "could be an effective tool as well."

In the Lebanese capital, Hezbollah threatened renewed anti-aircraft fire if Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace again. Boim said Israeli flights, which he called reconnaissance missions, would continue.

Tension has risen along the border since Hezbollah, which is also sponsored by Iran and controls southern Lebanon, fired salvos of rockets and mortar bombs at an Israeli post in a disputed border area on Friday.

Israeli military officials said that in Sunday's incident, Hezbollah had not aimed its shells at aircraft but had deliberately fired them at Shlomi.
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