Israel is considering a military response today to the killing of one its soldiers by Lebanese Hizbullah guerrillas.
A security source said any reprisal for yesterday's missile strike on the Israel-Lebanon border would likely target Hizbullah, which is backed by Syria and Iran, and would be "measured" to avoid escalating the conflict.
But the Hizbullah attack threatened to aggravate tensions between Israel and Syria, the main powerbroker in Lebanon. Syria called in December for renewed peace talks with Israel, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been cool toward the idea.
Hours before the border attack, Mr Sharon told a parliamentary committee the price for peace with Syria would mean bowing to Syrian demands to cede the strategic Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
Politicians at the session said it was clear that was a price Mr Sharon was not prepared to pay.
Hizbullah said its guerrillas fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli bulldozer which had crossed into Lebanon, destroying it.
The chief of Israel's northern command said the bulldozer crossed an Israeli security fence to clear bombs planted by Hizbullah but operated within Israeli territory and short of the international frontier. The army said a one soldier was killed and another seriously wounded.