Israel threatens Syria over Hizbollah shelling

Israel threatened Syria yesterday after Hizbollah guerillas in Lebanon fired anti-aircraft shells that killed an Israeli teenager on Israel's northern border, but said it hoped to defuse tension through diplomacy.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Israel held Syria, the main powerbroker in Lebanon, and Hizbollah patron Iran responsible for the Shi'ite group's operations.

"These actions are actively supported and assisted by the governments of Syria and Iran," Shalom told reporters during a visit to Switzerland. "Israel has reacted with great restraint to this latest terrorist attack but there is a limit to our patience."

"At this time for renewed hope in the Middle East it is imperative that the international community show zero tolerance to Hizbollah and its sponsor," Shalom said in Bern, alluding to a US-backed "road map" for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The death of the 16-year-old in the Israeli border town of Shlomi on Sunday was the first fatality from Hizbollah shelling since Israel withdrew its forces from south Lebanon in May 2000 after a 22-year occupation, amid daily attacks by the group.

In Beirut, Hizbollah threatened renewed anti-aircraft fire if Israeli aircraft entered Lebanese airspace again. Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio the flights, which he called reconnaissance missions, would continue.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy for Lebanon, told reporters in Beirut: "We are appealing to all sides... to stop this type of potential escalation. Overflights should not take place over Lebanon."

He complained about the danger of anti-aircraft fire, which he said was "most of the time correlated to overflights".

Israeli warplanes bombed an anti-aircraft battery on the edge of a south Lebanon village on Sunday in retaliation for the Shlomi shelling. Israeli warplanes later flew over Beirut, breaking the sound barrier.

Israel called the air raids a "warning signal" and Boim appeared to indicate that Israel did not for now plan further military action. He said diplomatic pressure "could be an effective tool as well".

There was no immediate reaction to Shalom's remarks from Syria or Iran, both officially at war with the Jewish state.

Tension has risen on the border since Hizbollah, operating from south Lebanon, fired rockets and mortars at an Israeli post in a disputed area on Friday.

Hizbollah regards the area, known as Shebaa Farms and retained by the Israeli army after its withdrawal from the rest of southern Lebanon, as Lebanese territory. The United Nations says it belongs to Syria.

Israeli military officials said that in Sunday's incident, Hizbollah had not aimed its shells at aircraft but had deliberately fired them at Shlomi.

The flare-up along the border, which had been quiet since January, followed a vow by Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to retaliate for the killing of a Hizbollah operative in a car bombing in Beirut, which he blamed on Israel.