Syria is responsible for the actions by the militant Lebanese group Hizbollah and will be "the address for our response" if the violence does not stop, Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said Saturday, according to AFP.
"We consider Syria, which controls Lebanon, as responsible for everything that happens there," Sneh told CNN television.
Syrian officials must "do their utmost to stop the aggression immediately in order to prevent an extension of this aggression and all the inevitable results that may come out of it," he said.
Four Lebanese civilians, including a child, were wounded in an Israeli air strike on the mountainous Shabaa region in southeast Lebanon, reported AFP, quoting security sources.
Issam Nabulsi and his three children were wounded when an Israeli helicopter gunship fired heavy machinguns at their car on the Kfarshuba road, they said.
The four were transported to a nearby hospital, they said.
The incident took place as violent confrontations raged in the region between the Shiite Hizbollah and the Israeli army.
Hizbollah confirmed that its fighters kidnapped three Israeli soldiers during the clashes while security sources said three soldiers were captured.
The Israeli army radio said three Israeli soldiers were wounded during the confrontations with Hizbollah fighters.
For its part, Israel gave the Lebanese Hizbollah 4 hours to free the Israeli soldiers the movement holds captive, threatening to shell Beirut if the deadline has not been met, reported Al-Jazira TV channel.
Asked about Israel’s threats to bombard Beirut, Lebanese MP, Mohammed Baydoon told the TV that “it will not be the first time, and we always expect the worse from Israel.”
In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak demanded that Lebanon and Syria bring an "immediate halt" to hostilities on the Israel-Lebanon border, public and army radio reported.
Shebaa hit the headlines earlier this year, when Lebanon demanded its return as part of the Israeli withdrawal from its territory in May, but Israel says it captured the farms from Syria in 1967 and their future is to be determined in talks with Damascus.
On Saturday noon, Hizbollah traded heavy exchanges of fire with Israeli troops early Saturday.
The exchanges followed violent clashes between Palestinian refugee camp residents in Lebanon and Israeli soldiers in the border area.
Two Palestinians were killed and thirteen injured in the clashes, which erupted during protests at Israel’s brutal killing of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza – (Several Sources)
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