Bombing Raises Fear Of Reprisals

A roadside bomb killed a truck driver in southern Lebanon on Thursday, raising fears of a new round of tit-for-tat attacks between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli-allied Lebanese militiamen. The Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army blamed pro-Iranian Hezbollah guerrillas, who in turn accused Israel of setting off the bomb as a pretext for retaliatory attacks.

A Hezbollah bombing on Monday killed two Lebanese children and set off three days of escalating violence, with deadly shelling by the SLA militiamen, guerrilla rocket attacks on northern Israel, and Israeli air raids deep into Lebanon.

There were fears of more reprisals after Thursday’s roadside bomb killed a driver near Jezzine, a Christian mountain town 25 miles southeast of Beirut. The town is controlled by the 2,500-strong SLA militia, which helps 1,500 Israeli troops patrol Israel’s “security zone” in southern Lebanon.

Shops and businesses have closed in Jezzine and its 5,000 remaining residents, down from 30,000 in recent months, stayed indoors or fled south.