TWO Israeli soldiers were killed and two wounded in an ambush by Hizbullah guerrillas on their patrol in south Lebanon yesterday pro Israeli militia sources said.
It was the worst attack against Israeli troops in south Lebanon since five soldiers were killed and six wounded in a Hizbullah attack in the zone on June 10th.
Hizbullah, which is fighting to oust Israeli troops from a 15 km deep border occupation zone, said its fighters clashed with an Israeli force trying to advance out of the zone and into the Iqlim alToufah highlands near Sojoud.
The pro Israeli South Lebanon Army sources said Muslim guerrillas fired machine guns and anti tank rockets on the Israeli patrol on the edge of the zone.
In retaliation, Israeli jets and artillery bombarded Hizbullah guerrilla targets and villages controlled by the group in mountainous land north of the zone.
Witnesses said Israeli jets fired about 10 rockets in three raids into Iqlim al Toufah, a mountain used by Hizbullah forces.
Hizbullah fighters responded with mortar bombs and fired at least two shoulder held SAM 7 rockets at the attacking jets.
Yesterday's casualties were the first Israeli deaths since August 29th, when one soldier was killed and several were wounded in a Hizbullah ambush in the zone. Hizbullah guerrillas have killed 20 Israeli soldiers this year.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, yesterday tried to ease tension with Syria over troop movements in Lebanon and reassure Palestinians he was committed to peace.
But his comments came against the backdrop of violence in south Lebanon, a fight in Jerusalem's Old City between Arabs and Jewish settlers and news that 2,000 new Jewish homes can be built in occupied West Bank areas.
Mr Netanyahu, who met the US peace envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, in Jerusalem, said relations with Damascus were "under control". He also said Israel was committed to implementing a stalled self rule agreement with Palestinians in an attempt to dispel the impression in the Arab world that his right wing government was backtracking on Middle East peace.
Jewish settlers yesterday briefly occupied an east Jerusalem house they said they had bought from its Arab owners, igniting fresh violence in the holy city. Witnesses said guards hired by the Ateret Cohanim settlement group, which claimed to have bought the house for $5 million, broke into the house at dawn.