Hizbullah guerrillas and Israeli forces exchanged heavy fire in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese border this morning.
Hizbullah fired at least 50 mortar rounds at three Israeli positions, causing fires to break out. Israeli forces fired toward three villages in the area and an Israeli helicopter circled overhead.
Israeli warplanes took to the air and fired two rockets in the eastern Shebaa Farms area. An Israeli soldier was killed and four others were wounded in the fighting, which lasted for three hours.
The Israeli army said the fighting started when one of its military posts came under rocket fire. The clash was the third near the Israeli-Lebanese border in as many days.
Hizbullah guerrillas tried to attack an Israeli military position on the border yesterday, but were thwarted by troops who opened fire at them, Israel Radio reported.
On Wednesday, Israeli warplanes bombed what the Israeli military said were Hizbullah artillery positions in southern Lebanon after the Iranian-backed Lebanese guerrilla group fired anti-aircraft shells at northern Israel.
The flareup on the border came against a backdrop of reports that a new round of German-mediated prisoner swap negotiations between Israel and Hizbullah were close to a breakthrough.
Hizbollah claims Shebaa Farms is part of Lebanon, while the United Nations describes it as Israeli-occupied Syrian land.