MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) – Israel does not want to escalate the situation in southern Lebanon, a spokesperson for the country's foreign ministry told the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency Tuesday.
On Tuesday Hezbollah fighters claimed responsibility for a bomb, detonated against an Israeli manned patrol on the Shebaa Farms, southern Lebanon, a strip of disputed land located at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The blast left three Israeli soldiers wounded.
In response to the attack, Israel began shelling Lebanon's Kfar Shuba Heights.
On Sunday, Lebanese and Israeli forces opened fire at each other's positions in the same area of the Lebanese-Israeli border, leaving one Lebanese soldier wounded.
"The Israeli side does not intend to escalate the situation on the Israeli-Lebanese border," the spokesperson said, noting that Israel shelled Lebanon's Kfar Shuba Heights on Tuesday in response to an earlier blast in southern Lebanon that wounded at least two Israeli soldiers.
"Israel does not want to conduct a war, but it will respond to Hezbollah attacks," the spokesperson said, adding, however, that Israel does not intend to worsen the security situation.
Hezbollah is a paramilitary and political organization, originating in Lebanon's Shiite population, fighting for an Islamic state in Lebanon. It is recognized as a terrorist group by many Western countries, including Israel, the United States and the United Kingdom, but not by Russia.
Hezbollah is one of Israel's most powerful opponents, but members of the group, which controls most of Lebanon's southern regions, have been maintaining a ceasefire since the end of the Lebanon War.
Known as the July War in the Arab world, the Lebanon War was an armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that took place on July 12 - August 14, 2006 and left more than 800 people killed. The Israeli Army managed to advance 15-20 kilometers into Lebanon before it was forced to retreat.
