Beirut: In the most significant escalation of tensions since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, cross-border missile attacks have left a United Nations peacekeeper dead in Lebanon and killed two Israeli soldiers in the country's north.
The Shiite militant group Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the anti-tank missile attack on the Israeli military convoy in the contested Shebaa Farms area along the border with Lebanon that killed the two soldiers and wounded seven others on Wednesday.
Hezbollah said the attack was carried out by the "al-Quneitra Martyr's Brigade" – a reference to the area in the Syrian Golan Heights where an Israeli air strike on January 18 killed five Hezbollah fighters and a general from Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Since that attack, those on all sides of the sensitive border area – already under pressure as fighting from the four-year-long Syrian civil war draws ever closer – have been bracing for the moment Hezbollah decided to strike back.
UN Secretary-General Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all to exercise maximum calm and restraint, while Israel told the UN Security Council on Wednesday it would take all necessary measures to defend itself after the exchange of fire between Hezbollah militants and Israel.
Israel responded immediately to the Wednesday attack, launching a two-hour long barrage of shelling into Lebanon near the border villages of Majidiyeh, Abbasiyeh and Kfar Chouba, close to the Shebaa Farms area – a thin sliver of land that borders Lebanon, Syria and Israel that has been in dispute since 1967.
Spain says the Israeli fire killed a Spanish UN peacekeeper serving in south Lebanon and called on the United Nations to fully investigate the violence. "It is clear that this was because of the escalation of the violence and it came from the Israeli side," Spanish UN ambassador Roman Oyarzun said.
UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major-General Luciano Portolano said he was in contact with both parties to help prevent further escalation and urge restraint, condemning what he described as a "serious violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701".
The peacekeeping force, made up of around 10,000 soldiers from 36 countries, reinforced its presence in the area and intensified patrols in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces.
"At this time the situation along the Blue Line is quiet," the UNIFIL statement read.
UN Security Council resolution 1701 marked the end of the bloody 2006 war Israel fought against Hezbollah that killed more than 1000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and at least 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. Since then the 80-kilometre border area has been mostly quiet.
And although the hostilities that flared on Wednesday morning had subsided by nightfall, both sides warned there may be more violence to come.
Israeli politicians – deep in campaign mode for their upcoming election on March 17 – called for a harsh response to the Hezbollah actions.
"The Israeli army is replying to events in the north – all those who want to attack us in the north should look to what happen in the south … in the Gaza Strip," the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. "The Israel army is prepared to launch powerful actions."
He was referring to Israel's 50-day war in Gaza last July and August in which 2200 Palestinians – mostly civilians – were killed and hundreds of thousands had their homes destroyed.
The country's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, urged the IDF to respond in a "harsh and disproportionate manner".
Mr Netanyahu was holding overnight consultations with senior military and political colleagues, including Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz.
"Whoever is behind today's attack will pay the full price," the Prime Minister said. "For some time, Iran – via Hezbollah – has been trying to establish an additional terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights."
Both the Lebanese Government and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shared responsibility for the Hezbollah attack, he said.
Israel named the dead soldiers as 20-year-old Sergeant Dor Chaim Nini and Captain Yochai Kalangel, 25, from the Givati brigade.
Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Lebanon was committed to the UN resolution that ended a war between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006, and criticised the "hostile intentions expressed by the Israeli officials".
"The Israeli escalation in the border regions ... will pave the way for dangerous possibilities that aren't in favour of peace and stability in the region, Mr Salam said in a statement published on Lebanon's National News Agency.
Analysts said there was always a risk that this could grow into a full-scale conflict, warning the situation remained highly volatile and unpredictable.
Hezbollah made a calculated risk when they attacked the Israeli convoy that Israel would not launch a large-scale response, said Sami Nader, a professor in international relations at St Joseph's University in Beirut.
"They are already waging two wars, one at the side of the Syrian regime in Syria and the other, defending their own stronghold in Bekaa against Jabhat al-Nusra and Daesh and now they have taken the risk to open a new front," Professor Nader said.
The attack was fully backed by Iran, he said, and was a clear attempt to engage Israel in the conflict in Syria.
"Engaging Israel takes us back to the old paradigm of the Arab world versus Israel … Iran wants a direct line of confrontation with Israel, they want one more tool to pressure Israel, especially when Israel is opposing the nuclear talks with Iran so strongly."
But Hezbollah had also gambled on the domestic implications of its actions, Professor Nader said.
Its supporters were pleased it had retaliated against Israel's attack on its convoy, but, he noted: "the majority of the Lebanese don't want to be part of a regional conflict."
"They still have the bad memories of 2006 war that had such a negative impact on the Lebanese economy, destroyed bridges and infrastructure, killed and injured so many and forced people to flee their homes – they do not want to go through this kind of nightmare any more."
Calling for calm, the United States condemned the Hezbollah attack, calling it "an act of violence", while the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid Kaag, expressed "deep concerns over the dangerous deterioration of the security situation in South Lebanon" and urged all parties "to abstain from conducting any act that would shake the stability further".
