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CNN Sunday Morning

Israel Attacks Lebanon

Aired April 15, 2001 - 07:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Israel attacked suspected Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon today. It was in response to an earlier attack blamed on Hezbollah that killed an Israeli soldier.

CNN's Brent Sadler is in Lebanon; he brings us up to date on the latest violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Israel's military response to an Hezbollah guerrilla attack along its northern border with Lebanon: tank and artillery shells fired into areas around two front-line Lebanese villages, Kfar Saba and Shebaa. Villages suspected by Israel of being used as cover for the latest Hezbollah strike against Israeli troops.

As cross-border hostility and tension intensified, Israeli war planes went into action, retaliating for the guerrilla attack on an Israeli Merkaba (ph) battle tank -- the first such air raids this year under the leadership of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who took office in March.

This new round of intermittent and often deadly conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese border focuses attention on a fiercely contested border zone known as the Shebaa Farms. Israel has used its military strength for more than 30 years to occupy the land, captured from Syria in 1967 during the Arab-Israeli War. Lebanon claims sovereignty over Shebaa and, because Syria supports it, Hezbollah says its guerrilla attacks are justified.

Israelis had hoped for a calm border after their troops withdrew from Lebanon nearly a year ago after a decades-long occupation. But a low-intensity conflict grinds on in which Israel wastes no time in responding both on the battlefield and in the political arena, charging that Hezbollah's latest action is aided and abetted by Syria, representing a dangerous escalation and a clear provocation.

Brent Sadler, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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