Israeli Jets Blast South Lebanon, Avenging Cross-Border Hizbullah Attacks

<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Israel scrambled up fighter bombers to blast Hizbullah positions in South Lebanon on Friday, sharpening a wave of tension gripping the Lebanon-Israel border. <BR>The air strikes were followed up by a rocket shooting helicopter forays in which three missiles were unleashed suspecting Hizbullah's strongholds in South Lebanon's olive grows.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>The air activity came hard on the heels of a Hizbullah announcement that its fighters on Friday rocketed an Israeli army outpost in the Shabaa Farms zone. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lebanese police reported the air strikes after the Israeli army said it retaliated to a Hizbullah cross-border attack of Katyusha rockets in the Shabaa enclave.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hizbullah said Friday its fighters rocketed an Israeli army outpost in the Shabaa Farms zone and Israel said its army had retaliated aggravating a new wave of tension gripping the Lebanon-Israel border this week.</FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hizbullah community in Beirut had said its fighters shelled the Israeli forward position at Rouaisat El-Alam in retaliation for Israeli attacks in South Lebanon. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Israeli army said it retaliated without saying exactly where and how. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>Israel had earlier said it lodged a complaint against Lebanon for three cross-border rocket attacks mounted from the southern frontier on its northern flank in the past twenty four hours. </FONT><BR><BR><FONT face=Arial size=2>"Israel holds Lebanon responsible for what happens on its border," Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told public radio, adding his country had no interest in escalating tension along its northern border.</FONT><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>(Naharnet-AFP)</FONT></I></DIV>