- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The
Israeli army, changing its account of a Lebanese border incident, said
on Tuesday that an Israeli soldier killed by Hizbollah guerrillas on Monday
was several metres inside Lebanon at the time.
-
- "We deviated (from standard procedure) by going
into Lebanon," Brigadier-General Yair Golan told reporters in northern
Israel.
-
- The army said on Monday that an Israeli bulldozer hit
by a Hizbollah anti-tank missile while clearing explosives planted by the
militant group along the frontier had crossed an Israeli security fence
but had not entered Lebanon.
-
- One soldier was killed and another seriously wounded
in the attack, which raised tensions along the border and the possibility
of Israeli reprisal.
-
- "From their (Hizbollah's) standpoint (the attack)
is legitimate, although not from ours," Golan said, signalling that
retaliation was still an option. "It is very serious and an escalation...it
is a provocation by Hizbollah."
-
- Golan said the bulldozer had crossed several metres into
Lebanon.
-
- The Hizbollah attack also threatened to aggravate tensions
between Israel and Syria, which Israel has accused of arming the guerrillas.
-
- Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon, denies it controls
Hizbollah. The guerrillas consider Israel's troop withdrawal from southern
Lebanon in May 2000 as incomplete.
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