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Hizbollah Fires at Israeli Posts, Draws Air Raids

By Afif Diab

KFAR SHOUBA, Lebanon (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hizbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli posts in a disputed border area on Monday, drawing air raids, in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in Gaza.

Witnesses said they saw smoke rising from one Israeli position at Roueissat al-Aalam after the Syrian and Iranian-backed group launched mortar and rocket attacks.

Israeli aircraft and tanks fired back at Hizbollah targets on the outskirts of Lebanese border towns, an Israeli army spokesman said. There were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli spokesman issued a statement saying Israel had no interest in escalating violence, but would strike against anyone who "uses or supports terrorism" against Israeli civilians.

Hizbollah's al-Manar TV said Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Brigades, named after the assassinated Hamas leader, carried out the attacks on six Israeli positions.

"The martyr Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's Brigades struck all of the Zionist enemy's positions in the Shebaa Farms using direct weapons and rockets scoring direct hits," it said.

"What happened today is the natural consequence of the crimes of the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people, especially its assassination today of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin," Hizbollah spokesman Sheikh Hassan Izzedine told Reuters.

"What does the Zionist entity expect but more anger, condemnation, enmity and support for the Palestinian people?"

The border has been quiet in recent weeks but there have been sporadic flareups since Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

Hizbollah says Shebaa Farms is Israeli-held Lebanese territory. The United Nations regards the area as occupied Syrian land.

Hizbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah had earlier said that Israel would pay a heavy price for Yassin's killing.

Yassin's Hamas group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings since the start of a Palestinian uprising more than three years ago.

Israeli warplanes had swooped over southern Lebanon and the eastern Bekaa Valley earlier in the day.

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Al qaeda aided by Pak intelligence: US analysts
Washington, Mar 22 (UNI) Rouge elements within the Pakistani military and its intelligence establishment are aiding al Qaeda members evade capture and making a mockery of the media hype about the fresh military operations against leaders such as Osama bin Laden, US analysts have said.

''Certain elements within the Pakistani state and society are known to sympathise with the al Qaeda, and it is likely that certain rogue elements within the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment are helping al Qaeda members evade capture,'' said the analysts at the geopolitical intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor).

Following leaks out of Washington in February, the global media are rife with reports of renewed and vigorous efforts to nab senior al Qaeda leaders.

The latest operation by the Pakistani army gave rise to media speculations that al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zwahri had been surrounded. However, those reports turned out to be baseless.

Despite US and Pakistani military activity along the northeastern border of Afghanistan, there has been no sign of Osama bin Laden or any of his top associates, Stratfor said.

''The generic explanations of why this has been the case cite difficult terrain and sympathetic natives -- particularly in the autonomous Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) -- but we must consider the possibility that influential elements are helping the jihadists elude their would-be captors,'' it said.

With anti-Taliban and anti-al Qaeda forces controlling Kabul, Sratfor said, the only remaining suspects are within Islamabad's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) apparatus.

Contending that it had no doubt that the ISI leadership was firmly under President Pervez Musharraf's control thanks to certain personnel changes since September 11, 2001, Stratfor quoted sources close to Islamabad as saying that ''certain old-school individuals -- from colonels on down -- remain in a position to thwart anti-al Qaeda efforts.''