Israel, Hejbollah in deadly clashes
Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish UN peacekeeper were killed yesterday as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel exchanged fire in their most serious clashes in years.
The violence raised fears of another full-blown conflict erupting between the bitter enemies, who fought a month-long war in 2006.
The two soldiers were killed when Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at a military convoy in an Israel-occupied border area, the army said.
Seven other soldiers were wounded but local media said none had suffered life-threatening injuries.
Israel responded with "combined aerial and ground strikes" on southern Lebanon after the attack -- an apparent retaliation for a recent Israeli strike on the Golan Heights that killed senior Hezbollah members.
"Those behind today's attack will pay the full price," a statement quoted Israeli PM Netanyahu as saying, accusing Iran of using Hezbollah as a proxy along Israel's northern flanks.
Lebanese security sources told AFP that Israeli forces had hit several villages along the border.
Clouds of smoke could be seen rising from Majidiya village, one of the hardest hit. There was no immediate information on casualties.
A 36-year-old Spanish corporal from the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon was killed in the exchange of fire, officials said.
The 10,000-strong UNIFIL mission said it had observed six rockets fired towards Israel from southern Lebanon and that Israeli forces "returned artillery fire in the same general area".
Meanwhile, Syrian opposition figures and representatives of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began talks in Moscow yesterday but there was little hope that they would make a breakthrough in ending the country's brutal war.
The rise of Islamic State has changed the West's approach to Syria and spurred hope that the warring sides might find common ground in the face of a mutual foe.
But expectations are low for the Moscow-sponsored talks -- aimed at restarting long-stalled peace negotiations to wind down the nearly four-year civil war -- as the main opposition group, the exiled National Coalition, has refused to attend.
Two previous rounds of talks in Geneva ended without success.
The United States has given its backing to the talks amid signs that Washington may be recalibrating its Syria policy to focus on the Islamic State jihadist group.
Meanwhile, Jordan yesterday offered to free a female jihadist in exchange for a Jordanian pilot held by the Islamic State group, which is threatening to execute the airman and a Japanese journalist.
"Jordan is ready to release the prisoner Sajida al-Rishawi if the Jordanian pilot is freed unharmed," Jordanian state television quoted a government spokesman as saying. It made no mention of Japanese hostage Kenji Goto.
ISIS, in a video released Tuesday, threatened to kill Kassasbeh and Goto unless Rishawi is freed within 24 hours.
Rishawi has been on death row since 2006 for her part in triple hotel bombings in Amman that killed 60 people. The pilot, Kassasbeh, was captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the jihadists over northern Syria.
The Japanese government says it believes the ISIS deadline expires around 1400 GMT on Wednesday.
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