BEIRUT, Lebanon, May 7 (UPI) -- Middle East tensions crept into south Lebanon where Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops clashed Friday shattering a lull in hostilities that held for several months.
The unexpected flare-up was seen as an attempt by Israel to change the rules of the game at a time the second phase of a German-mediated prisoners' swap deal between the two belligerents was underway.
One Israeli soldier was killed and seven others wounded in the clash in south Lebanon's disputed Shabaa Farms area. That was followed by an Israeli air raid on suspected Hezbollah positions without causing casualties.
Hezbollah said its militants opened fire on an Israeli patrol after it crossed into Lebanese territory, violating the Blue Line which was drawn by the United Nations to authenticate Israel's May 2000 withdrawal from Lebanon after 23 years of occupation.
Israel said the troops were targeted while patrolling the border area inside Israeli territory.
Tension on the Lebanese-Israeli border has been rising since Wednesday after Israel raided Hezbollah's anti-aircraft gunners which it charged had opened up on its planes.
political observers said they believe Israel's unprovoked raid on Wednesday and its intrusion into Lebanese territory two days later are aimed at changing the rules of the game in south Lebanon.
"What Israel appears to be seeking is to change the existing rules in the south and force the Lebanese side to accept as de-facto the violation of Lebanese air space, land and sea," said Hilmi Mousa, political analyst and expert in Israeli affairs with Beirut's daily As-Safir.
Lebanon repeatedly complained to the U.N. against Israel's frequent violation of its air space and territorial waters since its withdrawal from the south four years ago.
"The struggle is on between two schools one Israeli which tries to change the existing status quo in south Lebanon and another by Hezbollah which seeks to maintain the current balance of terror," Mousa told United Press International.
He explained that Israel wants to have the right to monitor Lebanese airspace with its surveillance planes while Hezbollah wants to uphold its right to retaliate to Israeli violations.
The analyst dismissed any relations between the escalation and ongoing negotiations to conclude the second phase of a German-mediated prisoners' swap deal.
"There is no direct link between the two, but the delay in concluding the deal increases the risks of military escalation," Mousa said.
He noted, however, that calm negotiations were in the interest of both sides.
Israel released more than 400 Lebanese and Arab prisoners, including two Hezbollah officials, last February under the first phase of the deal.
In return, Hezbollah turned over the bodies of three Israeli soldiers and liberated a reserve army officer which was kidnapped by the Hezbollah in October 2000.
The second part of the deal, if concluded, stipulates the release of several Arab prisoners in Israel, including the longest-held Lebanese inmate Samir Kantar who was sentenced to 542 years in prison for killing Israeli civilians in 1978.
In return, Hezbollah should provide accurate information about the whereabouts of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad whose plane was downed over south Lebanon in 1986. Also Israel expects to have the remains of three of its soldiers killed in Lebanon in 1982.
The director of the Institution for Palestinian Studies in Beirut, Mahmoud Sweid argued that Israel's unprovoked escalation of border tensions was aimed at testing Hezbollah's response.
"Israel was stimulated by the feeling that Hezbollah is keen on avoiding any operation that might endanger the swap negotiations,' Sweid said.
He said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "apparently wanted to tell public opinion in Israel that he is firm and can strike at Hezbollah without the latter being able to retaliate."
Sweid played down fears that tensions might escalate further saying those were "calculated skirmishes" and that it has "nothing to do with the explosive situation inside the Palestinian territories."
Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid, in the meantime, held Israel responsible for the escalation which he said "is part of Israel's aggression against legitimacy and the sovereignty of the Lebanese territory."
He said Lebanon will resort to the United Nations which is conducting its own investigation into the border incident. "We will have a stance in light of the results of the U.N. probe," Obeid said.
Meanwhile, swap negotiations are continuing amid reports that Hezbollah received firm information about Arad's fate that he might transmit to chief German mediator Ernest Urlau to relay to Israel in case the second phase of the deal is concluded.
Sharon said in recent remarks that he was following up the issue personally and "has neither positive nor negative news to tell yet."
Israel claims that Arad was handed to Iran by pro-Iranian Lebanese Shiite organizations. But Tehran denied the claim.
