1 suspect hit, cell flees back into Lebanon; Lebanese media say Lebanese army soldier injured by IDF fire.
By YAAKOV LAPPINIsraeli soldiers and trucks are seen from southern Lebanon, as a Hezbollah flag flutters.(photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF soldiers opened fire on a cell trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon on Sunday.An IDF unit dealing with operational security identified the men crossing the border, heading into Israel.The soldiers opened fire with small arms, apparently hitting one of the infiltrators.“The cell fled back into Lebanese territory,” the army said.“The circumstances of the incident are being checked. The IDF will continue to safeguard the State of Israel’s sovereignty in the border region.”According to Lebanese media reports, Israeli cross-border fire wounded a Lebanese soldier near Kafr Shuba.Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar television reported that Lebanese soldiers clashed with an Israeli unit that tried to enter Lebanese territory in the Shaba area.The Beirut-based’s Daily Star reported that Lebanese troops returned fire on the IDF soldiers.The report added that the Lebanese army was investigating the incident in coordination with UN peacekeepers in the area.Meanwhile, at least 16 insurgents from Syria’s al-Qaida wing, Nusra Front, were killed in battles with Hezbollah in eastern Lebanon on Sunday after opening a major offensive, a source close to Hezbollah said.Hundreds of the Sunni insurgents attacked at least 10 Hezbollah bases along a mountainous range close to the Syrian border, killing two Hezbollah fighters, in the latest spillover of violence from the civil war next door.“There are at least 16 dead from Nusra Front,” the source said.“Fighters from Hezbollah in the Bekaa region are joining the areas where the clashes are,” he added, referring to the region stretching across eastern Lebanon.Hezbollah had issued a call to its fighters to defend the area, the source close to Hezbollah and other security officials said. They say Nusra Front has so far failed to control any of the positions it attacked.Earlier, officials said fighters from Islamic State, another insurgent group based in Syria, were also involved in the clashes, but the source close to Hezbollah said only Nusra Front appeared to have taken part.The attacks took place in a large area stretching from south of the town of Baalbek up to areas close to the border town of Arsal.The Sunni insurgents see Iranbacked Hezbollah among their chief foes.Fighters from the Lebanese group have been aiding President Bashar Assad in the Syrian civil war.Violence from Syria has often spread into Arsal and surrounding areas, where the Lebanese army has battled insurgents.In August, Islamic State and Nusra Front fighters stormed Arsal in the worst spillover of Syria’s war into its neighbor to date, killing and capturing members of the Lebanese military. They have since killed at least three of the captive soldiers and are holding an unknown number of others.Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.
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