Israeli Warplanes Hit Targets in Lebanon

[Editor's Note: Last post for the week as I will be in Cleveland for Thanksgiving. Have a happy holiday folks!]

There's not much to say here. This may spark the beginning of an overt Israeli-Iranian confrontation, or we may see more of the same. Certainly it's another example of how the Arab/Persian world can't seem to do any long term harm to Israel when it comes to military might. As always, we shall see.

Israeli said its warplanes struck in Lebanon on Tuesday in what Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz described as the largest-scale Israeli response to cross-border attacks by Lebanese guerrillas since 2000.

Mofaz spoke just hours after Israeli fighter jets attacked a command post of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon and after army bulldozers entered Lebanon to demolish a Hezbollah post just north of the community of Ghajar.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese army denied Israeli warplanes struck in southern Lebanon on Tuesday. On Monday, Israeli warplanes struck a number of Hezbollah targets, Israeli security officials said.

The Israeli strike came a day after the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah fired mortars and rockets toward the Israeli-Lebanese border, wounding 11 Israeli soldiers and damaging a house in an Israeli border community. The shelling sent thousands of Israeli civilians into bombshelters. Israeli return fire killed four Hezbollah guerrillas.

Monday's Hezbollah attack "was the largest-scale, most hostile since the departure of Israeli forces from Lebanon (in 2000)," Mofaz said in remarks broadcast on Israel Radio. The Israeli response "was the widest against attempts by Hezbollah to escalate the situation."

Mofaz said Israel hit targets that "had not been attacked since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon," including Hezbollah command, intelligence and communication posts.
The defense minister also said Hezbollah apparently suffered the greatest number of casualties since Israel's pullout from Lebanon. More