Israel launched an air strike on a Lebanese border crossing with Syria on
Monday, causing some casualties, Lebanese security sources said.
They said that Israeli warplanes raided Lebanon's Masnaa border crossing with
Syria and wounded four customs employees and a civilian.
An Israeli drone also fired a rocket at a truck carrying civilian supplies on
the main crossing at the Lebanese-Syrian border, added the sources.
No immediate comments are available from the Israeli side at the moment.
Earlier in the day, Lebanese media reported that one Lebanese soldier was
killed and three others were wounded by Israeli naval fire near Tyre on Monday.
A Lebanese army post in the coastal village of Qasmiyeh, north of Tyre, came
under the Israeli navy fire on Monday, said the reports.
The Israeli military later confirmed to Xinhua that its battleplane fired by
mistake at a car suspected to carry a senior Hezbollah official in southern
Lebanon Monday afternoon, killing one Lebanese soldier and wounding three
others.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman told Xinhua that the strike targeted
a car which was driving near the Lebanese port city of Tyre, but apparently
there were no Hezbollah militias in the car.
The spokesman said that the IDF expressed regret for the death. On the same
day, the Israel Air Forces (IAF) also carried out air strikes meant to protect
ground forces operating near the southern Lebanese village of Taibeh, which were
not targeting anyone or anything specific, according to the IDF spokesman.
Israel announced a 48-hour suspension of air strikes shortly after Sunday
midnight, in the wake of more than 50 Lebanese civilians killed by Israeli
attack on the village of Qana in southern Lebanon.
But the Israeli military said it would press ahead airstrikes aimed to
protect ground troops.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told the Knesset (Parliament) on Monday
that Israel must not agree to an immediate ceasefire, adding that the Israeli
army would expand its offensive against Hezbollah guerillas who kidnapped two
Israeli soldiers and killed eight on July 12 and triggered the violence.