The Hezbollah militant group captured two Israeli soldiers during clashes along the Lebanese border on Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, tanks and gunboats as Israeli troops crossed the frontier to hunt for the captives.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the guerrilla attack "an act of war" and warned that Hezbollah would pay a "heavy price" for its actions.
Israeli warplanes struck two bridges over the Litani River deep in southern Lebanon, killing two civilians on the main north-south highway between the port cities of Tyre and Sidon, Lebanese security officials said. The pan-Arab satellite TV al-Arabiya station said that at least seven Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting, and that several more were wounded.
The Israeli army confirmed casualties among the soldiers, but did not comment on the reports of possible deaths.
Israeli troops crossed into a southwestern sector of Lebanon, near where the soldiers were seized, trying to keep their captors from moving them deeper into Lebanon, Israeli security officials said. Hezbollah said it destroyed an Israeli tank as it tried to cross the frontier.
The clashes came after Israel sharply escalated its military campaign in Gaza in an effort to press Palestinian militants to release another Israeli soldier who was captured during a raid across the Israel-Gaza border last month. Israel dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a Gaza home Wednesday in a failed attempt to assassinate top Hamas fugitives, killing seven children and two adults.
"These are difficult days for the state of Israel and its citizens," Olmert said. "There are people ... who are trying to test our resolve. They will fail and they will pay a heavy price for their actions."
For some reason the radical Islamic elements in that area have never managed to figure out that Israel prevails in all its wars, and challenging them like this is not a recipe for success. Before this is done there will be many more radicals getting a face-to-face with Allah.
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