Israel-Lebanon Fighting Escalates
JERUSALEM — The fiercest fighting in months broke out on the Israel-Lebanese border Friday on the eve of a new U.S. Middle East peace mission, when guerrillas fired rockets on northern Israel and Israeli warplanes struck back in Lebanon.
Two rockets hit the border town of Kiryat Shemona, causing the first damage and injuries since a U.S.-brokered April 1996 pact between Israel and Lebanon-based guerrillas prohibited the targeting of civilians. One rocket landed on the Gates of Heaven synagogue as worshipers were at prayer, sending up flying glass that injured a woman sleeping in a house nearby.
Israeli warplanes went deep into Lebanon to retaliate, shooting missiles at a guerrilla base near Beirut controlled by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. It was not immediately clear why that base was targeted.
Thirteen people, including seven civilians, have been killed in southern Lebanon since Monday, when Israeli commandos set off bombs behind the front line, killing three guerrilla field commanders and two other fighters.
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