Israeli forces fired shells this afternoon into an Israeli-occupied zone near the Lebanese border where Hizbollah guerrillas have recently clashed with Israeli forces, witnesses reported.
They said several artillery shells hit the outskirts of the Lebanese town of Kfar Shouba, which lies near the Shebaa Farms, a disputed area close to Lebanon's border with Syria, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Tension on the frontier has risen in recent weeks. There is concern in Israel Hizbollah may try to open a second front with the Jewish state, preoccupied with raids on Palestinian territories, to end a wave of suicide bombings.
Israel strafes the area with machinegun and artillery fire to keep Hizbollah fighters from infiltrating into the Shebaa Farms.
A spokesman for UN peacekeepers in the area said Israel had informed them it would be conducting military operations.
Hizbollah has often hinted it could intervene militarily to back the Palestinian uprising, and Israel accuses it of orchestrating an ambush near the Lebanese border last month that killed six people. Lebanon denies the claim.