QASMIYEH, Lebanon (Reuters) - Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and killed up to seven Israelis in Lebanese border violence on Wednesday, further inflaming Middle East tensions.
Israelis tighten their grip on Lebanon Israeli artillery pieces fire across the border into southern Lebanon from an Israeli position along the northern Israeli border with Lebanon near the town of Kyriat Shmona, Friday, July 14, 2006. Israel has widened its offensive on Lebanon, with fighter bombers blasting the airport for a second day, residential buildings in the southern suburbs of the capital, igniting fuel storage tanks and cutting the main highway to Syria. Hezbollah fired 20 rockets into three towns in northern Israel on Friday, wounding at least six people, the army and police said.(AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
The clashes with Hezbollah, which killed at least seven Israeli soldiers, escalated tensions at a time when Israel already is waging a military offensive in Gaza, where 20 Palestinians were killed today.