Ten Lebanese civilians were wounded late Saturday in Israeli air and artillery strikes against southern Lebanon, in addition to four hurt earlier in the day, Lebanese police said.
Israeli helicopter gunships fired on civilian cars fleeing fighting on the border with Lebanon, wounding at least seven Lebanese, they said.
Earlier, three Lebanese civilians were wounded, including one seriously, when an Israeli artillery shell slammed into Shebaa village, adjacent to the disputed Shebaa farms area on the Lebanese-Syrian border occupied by Israel since 1967.
Four Lebanese civilians were also wounded, including a child, when Israeli helicopters machine-gunned a car at midday on a road leading to the nearby village of Kfarshuba.
The Israeli strikes came after Hizbollah movement kidnapped in a commando operation three Israeli soldiers from the Shebaa Farms.
The Israeli army had killed two Palestinian refugees and wounded scores of other protestors hurling stones and Molotov coktails at the Lebanese-Israeli borders early Saturday.
Meanwhile, special Israeli army commando units were rushed to the northern border with Lebanon and put on a state of alert following the kidnapping of three of its soldiers by Lebanese Islamic guerrillas Saturday, a military source said.
Among the units in the region is the prestigious Golani brigade, whose members served in Lebanon during Israel's 22-year occupation of its northern neighbour, the source said.
It was not possible to determine how many troops were involved in the deployment -- HASBAYA, Lebanon (AFP)
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