Hizbullah warns Israel of retaliation after deadly shooting kills 1
Organization says shooting which killed resident of Lebanese border town of Ghajar will not go overlooked. 'It is the right of the resistance to respond one day by any means,' says Hizbullah lawmaker
A Hizbullah official warned Monday of guerrilla retaliation for the deadly shooting by Israeli forces of a man across the border in southern Lebanon.
The comments by Hizbullah lawmaker Hussein Haj Hassan came a day after Israeli troops opened fire across the Lebanese border. Lebanese security officials said one person was killed and another wounded in the incident late Sunday.
The Israeli military said it was responding to fire, apparently from drug smugglers, on the Lebanese side. Such shootings have been rare since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
"This matter definitely will not pass in a way that the people will remain silent," Haj Hassan said on LBC television Monday. "It is the right of the resistance to respond one day by any means."
Haj Hassan decried the lack of international criticism of the Israeli firing, even though the circumstances surrounding the incident remained unclear, adding that if the situation had been reversed, with an Israeli killed by fire from Lebanon, "you wouldn't imagine how many condemnations would have been issued ... as if a citizen on our side has no value."
Haj Hassan did not threaten immediate retaliation; however, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned in a recent speech that the militant group's patience was wearing thin with what he described as repeated Israeli violations of Lebanese territory.
On Sunday, the Israeli military said its soldiers came under fire in the border town of Ghajar, which is split between the two countries by a UN-demarcated line. The soldiers returned fire and identified a hit. There were no Israeli casualties.
Lebanese security officials said the two people shot were in Lebanese territory along the Wazzani River in the southeastern corner of Lebanon across from Israeli positions in Ghajar. They were taken to a hospital in Marjayoun, a major town in the area, where officials confirmed they had received one body and another person who was wounded.
The UN peacekeeping force, which is deployed in southern Lebanon along the border with Israel, said there was a "shooting incident in the area of Ghajar" and that it has started an "immediate investigation to ascertain the facts, looking into initial allegations of smuggling."
Yasmina Bouziane, spokeswoman for UNIFIL, said in a statement that a Lebanese man was evacuated by peacekeepers to a hospital in Marjayoun, where he was later declared dead. Another individual was evacuated by the Lebanese army.
Bouziane said the UNIFIL commander, Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano, "is in contact with senior officers on both sides, urging them to show maximum restraint."
