Lebanon: IDF halts fire

VIDEO - At around 5 p.m. the IDF accepted a request by the Lebanese government, which was relayed to the army by UN mediators, to cease its fire.

Meanwhile, all northern community residents were permitted to leave the bomb shelters and security rooms.

IDF officials said the army’s response to the Katyusha barrage was the most severe since the withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Islamic Jihad denied that it had claimed responsibility for a rocket barrage on Sunday that wounded an Israeli soldier in northern Israel.

Abu Imad Rifai, Islamic Jihad's representative in Lebanon, said the Palestinian terrorist group had not issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, but reserved the group's right "to retaliate to the crimes and aggression of the (Israeli) occupation."

A statement purporting to be from Islamic Jihad had said the attack came in retaliation to Friday's killing of one of its leaders and his brother in south Lebanon.

The death toll on the Lebanse side currently stands at two.

Earlier it was cleared for publication that an IDF soldier sustained moderate to serious wounds to his stomach Sunday near the Kibbutz Manara security fence. His condition is listed as stable.

An initial investigation into the incident revealed that the soldier and one of his Air Force comrades arrived at the kibbutz for administrative tasks. As they were making their way to the kibbutz’s water tanker they stood exposed near Manara’s security fence; snipers then opened fired at them, striking one of the soldiers.

Injured soldier arrives at Rambam Hospital (Photo: Ahiya Raved) 

A helicopter dispatched to the scene evacuated the injured solder to the “Gibor” helipad, and he was then transferred to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa. IDF forces near the kibbutz returned fire while several mortars were fired at northern border communities, apparently by another terror cell. The exchanges of fire in the area are continuing.

The IDF is expected to look into why the soldiers remained exposed to gunfire just a few hours after the army launched attacks in Lebanon in response to Katyusha fire targeting northern border communities.

Dr. Eran Talor of Rambam Hospital said a bullet entered the soldier’s stomach and came out through his back.

“He is in stable condition, and if all goes well he will recover quickly,” the doctor said.

IDF forces exchanged heavy fire Sunday with Palestinians on the Lebanese side of the northern border, near Kibbutz Manara.

Earlier Katyusha rockets were fired toward northern communities, and all Israelis residing near the security fence were instructed by security forces to enter bomb shelters or secured rooms.  

Air Force retaliates with missile strikes

At approximately 3 p.m. Palestinians on the Lebanese side of the northern border opened fire toward the Kibbutz Manara area in northern Israel, and IDF soldiers manning a nearby outpost retaliated. Meanwhile a number of mortars were also fired toward Israel, apparently by a separate terror cell. In response IDF choppers launched a strike on Hizbullah bases in southern Lebanon, and army forces opened fire at the areas from which the mortar and rocket attacks emanated from.

The events began Sunday at dawn, when three Katyusha rockets were fired from Lebanon toward the northern border. Some of the Katyushas hit in the residential section of the air control unit base in Mount Meron, some 10 km (6.25 miles) from the border. One soldier suffered from shock and was evacuated to the Ziv Hospital in Safed in light condition, and one of the base’s buildings was lightly damaged.

Shortly after 10 a.m. the Air Force retaliated with missile strikes in the Lebanese valley. The first targeted the Popular Front general headquarters in Sultan Yaakov five kilometers from the Syrian border. Afterwards, the planes returned and fired at a Popular Front base in the Nueima area south of Beirut.

Ahiya Raved, Hagai Einav, Reuters contributed to the report