WATCH ABOVE: Hezbollah attack kills Israeli soldiers and UN observer. Stuart Greer reports.
SHEAR YASHUV, Israel – The Lebanese militant Hezbollah group fired a salvo of missiles at an Israeli military convoy in a disputed border area Wednesday, killing two soldiers and triggering deadly clashes that marked the most serious escalation since the sides’ 2006 war.
The flare-up, which also left a U.N. peacekeeper dead, added to the regional chaos brought on by neighboring Syria’s civil war. Hezbollah indicated the attack was in retaliation for a deadly Israeli strike on its fighters inside Syria earlier this month.
The violence sparked fears in both countries of yet another crippling war between the two foes. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel would respond “forcefully,” and the military fired artillery shell barrages that struck border villages in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded with rocket fire on Israeli military positions.
The Israeli military said five anti-tank missiles hit the soldiers as they were traveling near Mount Dov and Chebaa Farms, along a disputed tract of land where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet.
WATCH: Israeli artillery bombardment strikes Lebanese village
The soldiers were in two unarmored white vehicles without military insignia when they were struck from a distance of about three miles (five kilometers) away, according to Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli military spokesman.
Israeli media aired footage showing the charred, smoldering vehicles after the strike, which also wounded seven Israeli soldiers.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. peacekeeper, a Spaniard, was killed in cross-fire after rockets were fired at Israeli positions and Israeli forces responded. He said the cause of death was under investigation.
However, Spain’s ambassador to the U.N. blamed Israel for the death of the peacekeeper, identified as 36-year-old Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo. “It was because of this escalation of violence, and it came from the Israeli side,” Spanish Ambassador Roman Oyarzun Marchesi told reporters at U.N. headquarters.
The Security Council, meeting in an emergency session, condemned the peacekeeper’s death in the strongest terms and offered its deepest sympathies. In a statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he conveyed Israel’s condolences for the death in a conversation with his Spanish counterpart.
The dead Israeli soldiers were identified as Capt. Yochai Kalangel, 25, and Sgt. Dor Chaim Nini, 20.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki condemned the Hezbollah attack and expressed support for Israel’s “legitimate right to self-defense.”
Hezbollah said the operation was carried out by a group calling itself the “Righteous Martyrs of Quneitra,” suggesting it was to avenge an Israeli airstrike in the Syrian portion of the Golan Heights on Jan. 18 that killed six Hezbollah fighters, including the son of the group’s slain military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, and an Iranian general.
Israel has braced for a response to that strike, beefing up its air defenses and increasing surveillance along its northern frontier.
Earlier Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Syria targeting Syrian army artillery posts in response to two rockets that were fired from Syria the previous day into the Israeli-held Golan Heights. No casualties were reported in that exchange of fire.
Two Lebanese officials said the Israeli shelling targeted the border villages of Majidiyeh, Abbasiyeh and Kfar Chouba near the Chebaa Farms area. By afternoon, residents along the border reported the shelling had died down but that there were still Israeli aircraft flying overhead.
The Spanish Defence Ministry identified the dead peacekeeper as Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo, 36. Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters he received a phone call from Israel’s ambassador to Spain, offering condolences.
In a statement, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that he conveyed Israel’s condolences for the death in a conversation with his Spanish counterpart.
Families living on the outskirts of the Lebanese villages fled further within, fearing they’d be hit, said the two Lebanese officials, who are based in south Lebanon. Celebratory gunfire echoed in Shiite-dominated areas of Beirut, while in some areas, nervous parents hurried to pick up their children from school and hunker home.
Sounds of firing were heard near the Israeli village of Shear Yashuv, and there were plumes of smoke near Mount Dov. Israeli helicopters flew above and Israeli police and army set up checkpoints on roads near the border, closing roads briefly.
Netanyahu, speaking at an event in southern Israel, warned that Israel’s enemies would face a fate similar to Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip who fought a brutal 50-day war against Israel last summer.
“To anyone who is trying to challenge us on the northern border I suggest looking at what happened here, not far from the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas was dealt its heaviest blow ever since its founding and the Israel Defence Forces is prepared to act forcefully in all areas,” he said.
Israel Ziv, a reserve Israeli general and a former head of the IDF’s Operations Directorate, told reporters that the situation was “flammable” and that Israel should work to “contain” the situation.
“We could find ourselves in a war that does not belong to Israel,” he said.
“I do believe that Israel understands that it needs to contain it,” he said, added Israel should not take any “steps that would pull us into the chaotic situation in Syria.”
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Karam reported from Beirut. Daniel Estrin and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem, Diaa Hadid in Beirut and Alan Clendenning in Madrid contributed to this report.
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