BICOM

Two Israeli soldiers were killed when Hezbollah fired anti-tank missiles at an army convoy near the Lebanon border yesterday, following an escalation of tensions in the area.

At least five Kornet anti-tank missiles struck the vehicles which were travelling on a civilian border road near the Har Dov region. The two soldiers killed were named as Captain Yochai Kalangel, 25, and Sergeant Dor Chaim Nini, 20, both from the Givati infantry brigade. Seven additional soldiers were wounded when they left their vehicle after the first missile struck and were subsequently struck by shrapnel.

Following the attack, the residents of nearby Kibbutz Dafna and Kibbutz Kfar Giladi were instructed to stay indoors. Hezbollah also fired mortars at IDF outposts on Mount Hermon. In response, Israeli forces fired at least 25 artillery rounds at targets in southern Lebanon. A Spanish UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon) soldier was killed during the shelling.

Hezbollah took responsibility for yesterday’s attack, saying that it had inflicted casualties on “enemy ranks.” The attack would appear to be retaliation for what was thought to have been an Israeli air strike last week in Syria which killed senior Hezbollah commanders and an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general, reportedly planning to strike Israel. Hezbollah said yesterday’s attack was perpetrated by the “heroic martyrs of Quneitra,” a reference to where last week’s air strike took place.

Tensions further increased earlier this week when rockets were fired from Syria into the northern part of the Israeli Golan Heights. The IDF responded with artillery fire and recorded a direct hit at the source of the rockets.

However, there was a cautious calm on Israel’s northern borders yesterday evening and overnight. Reacting to yesterday’s events, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “Iran has been attempting for some time, through Hezbollah, to create an additional terror front against us from the Golan Heights.” Meanwhile, a US State Department spokesperson said that, “The United States strongly condemns Hezbollah’s attack.”