BICOM

A large roadside bomb exploded near an IDF patrol along the Lebanese border in the Har Dov / Shebaa Farms area on Monday afternoon. The IDF reported that no soldiers were hurt in the incident and responded with artillery fire towards Hezbollah areas in south Lebanon. Hezbollah immediately claimed responsibility in what was thought to be symbolic retribution for the death of arch-terrorist Samir Kuntar, who was killed December 20th in an air strike on a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus.

Kuntar had been imprisoned in Israel for 30 years after he murdered a family in Nahariya in 1979 before being released in 2008 in part exchange for returning the bodies of two IDF soldiers. Before his death he was believed to have been spearheading an attempt to open a front against Israel on the Syrian Golan Heights, leveraging his links with the local Druze community and pro-Assad militia. Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah claimed that Israel was behind Kuntar’s death and had vowed revenge in three separate speeches.

Israeli officials meanwhile had cautioned Hezbollah against escalation. Last week, Prime Minister Netanyahu had warned that Israel would respond aggressively to any attack while IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot said that, “As we proved in the past, we will be able to strike at anyone who wishes to hurt us. Our enemies know that if they attempt to shake Israel’s security they will bear the severe consequences.”

The Har Dov/Sheba Farms region is a three-way border between Israel, Syria and Lebanon. Hezbollah claims the area is occupied Lebanese territory although it was captured by Israel from Syria in 1967.  Some Israeli analysts believe that the specific location of the attack might signal that Hezbollah has little interest in further escalation. Although officials estimate that Hezbollah has approximately 100,000 rockets at its disposal and that the group has previously committed attacks against Israelis abroad, Hezbollah’s main focus remains the Syrian Civil War where it has between 3,000 – 4,000 troops engaged in the fighting alongside the Assad regime and the Iranian supported axis.