Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group has claimed to have seized an Israeli army post in the disputed Shebaa Farms border area, destroying a Merkava tank, after Israeli troops deserted under heavy shelling.
The guerrillas planted Hezbollah's flag at the Rowaissat al-Aalam position, the group's Al-Manar television station said. It did not specify if Hezbollah later withdrew or held on to the post.
Hezbollah dedicated its latest attacks on Israeli troops in the border region to the "heroic" Palestinian fighters facing Israel's massive offensive against West Bank towns.
The group, in a statement, paid tribute to the "heroic knights fighting and standing firm at the Jenin camp, in the Old City of Nablus and those besieged at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem."
The Islamic Resistance, Hezbollah's military wing, launched "an all-out attack on all Zionist enemy positions in the occupied Shebaa Farms," the statement said.
"A group of fighters assaulted the Rowaissat al-Aalam position ... destroying a Merkava tank, two antennas, a radar as well as reinforcements," it said. "There were a number of casualties among enemy soldiers."
AFP