8 Civilians Killed in Israeli Air Strike on Lebanon

Eight Lebanese civilians were killed Thursday when Israel conducted its first strike against the militant Islamic group Hezbollah since the government accused it of attacking Jewish and Israeli institutions abroad, south Lebanese security sources said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman apologized for what she said was the mistaken bombing of a home in the village of Deir Zahrani. The spokeswoman said that “innocent civilians are not a target” and that the army “expresses sorrow for the casualties.”

Israel Radio reported that the incident is under investigation by the army.

The air raid came one day before U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher is due to arrive in Damascus, Syria, for another attempt at breaking the deadlock in peace negotiations between the Israelis and Syrians.

Thursday’s incident is likely to heighten the already tense atmosphere in southern Lebanon, where Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah are engaged in deadly tit-for-tat strikes against each other.

Hezbollah has threatened to fire rockets into northern Israel if Israel strikes at it in southern Lebanon.

South Lebanese security sources said eight people were killed and up to 15 injured in the attack on Deir Zahrani. The sources said a home and adjacent shop were flattened in a direct hit from a missile fired from an Israeli jet.

A husband and wife and their two children were among the dead. Two other adults and two children were also reportedly killed.

The sources said two earlier air raids struck at a Hezbollah base in the village of Ein Bouswar, located midway between the Mediterranean port of Sidon, southern Lebanon’s largest city, and the inland town of Nabatiyeh.

Nabatiyeh borders Israel’s 440-square-mile, self-proclaimed security zone above its northern border. The Israelis have occupied the strip since 1985, contending they must secure the border from Katyusha rocket attacks and terrorist incursions.

Lebanese sources said four Israeli jet fighters first fired four missiles on Ein Bouswar, then returned and fired a fifth missile an hour later, reportedly as guerrillas were picking through the rubble of the first strike. Three jets then reportedly attacked Deir Zahrani. There were no reports of casualties among guerrillas in Ein Bouswar.

Thousands of Lebanese began fleeing their villages in the south last month, seeking safety in the north after Israel threatened to make Hezbollah pay for bomb attacks on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and on the Israeli Embassy and another Jewish community center in London. Up to 100 people died in the Buenos Aires blast.

Villagers had begun coming home recently, according to Lebanese news reports, believing that the Israelis had decided not to strike.

Israel accused Hezbollah and Iran of carrying out last month’s attacks, which Jerusalem said were meant to derail the peace process. Iran has denied involvement in the bombings, as have prominent Hezbollah sheiks. Hezbollah is funded and armed by Iran, and has vowed to sabotage Israel’s peace negotiations with the Palestinians and Arab states.

After the Buenos Aires attack, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called for cooperation among Western governments and intelligence organizations to thwart Hezbollah violence.