'IAF strikes Hezbollah target in Lebanese territory'

Lebanese media states strike either targeted spying device or Hezbollah telecommunications line; IDF refuses to confirm attack.

By YAAKOV KATZ
IAF A-4, F-16 jets at Hatzerim_370 (photo credit: Reuters/Amir Cohen)
IAF A-4, F-16 jets at Hatzerim_370
(photo credit: Reuters/Amir Cohen)
The Israel Air Force bombed an intelligence- gathering device in southern Lebanon on Monday, according to Lebanese media reports.
One of the reports claimed that the attack was carried out by an air-to-surface missile which struck a “device” between the southern towns of Zrariyeh and Tayr Filsay.
Al Manar TV said that the attack targeted a device that had been installed on a Hezbollah telecommunications cable.
Naharnet said that Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked UNIFIL to investigate the bombing.
The reported bombing on Monday is not the first time that Israel has been accused of destroying intelligence-gathering devices it had hidden throughout Lebanon.
In late 2011, Lebanese media reported on a number of blasts in southern Lebanon which destroyed espionage devices after they had been exposed by Hezbollah.
A subsequent United Nations investigation concluded that it was possible that Israel had planted spy devices in Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
“These do look like some sort of espionage device,” Michael Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon, told Reuters at the time.
In response to the reports, the IDF issued a statement saying: “We do not comment on foreign news reports.”