Israeli gunships hit Palestinian positions

In this story: Attacks on two fronts 'Dangerous escalation' RELATED STORIES, SITES

GAZA (CNN) -- Israeli helicopter gunships late Monday attacked Palestinian targets in central Gaza, including the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's elite bodyguard unit, Palestinian sources said.

Two people were wounded in the fresh round of attacks.

Israeli military sources confirmed Israel is attacking by air military targets in Gaza.

Earlier, Israeli tanks lobbed shells into the village of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza in retaliation for five mortar shells that landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot in the Negev Desert.

An earlier Israeli strike on a Syrian radar station inside Lebanon was a "dangerous escalation" of Mideast violence, the Syrian government said.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the timing of the raid Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Brent Sadler has more on the unrest in the Mideast Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    AUDIO Israeli government spokesman Dori Gold: Syria has been giving a green light to Hezbollah. 181K/16 sec. AIFF or WAV sound CNN's Jerrold Kessel: Lebanese PM calls it an act of Israeli aggression 594K/55 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    TRANSCRIPT Rula Amin: Israeli strikes on Syria    MESSAGE BOARD Share your thoughts on current events in Lebanon    ALSO Israel-Syria strife hampers U.S. policy on Iraq Explosion near West Bank settlement TIME.com: Syria strike could hurt Israel

Israel said the early morning attack, which killed as many as three Syrian soldiers, was a response to Syrian-backed guerrilla attacks on Israeli forces.

Israel wants Syria to control Hezbollah guerrillas, who regularly launch attacks on Israeli targets -- particularly those in the disputed Shebaa Farms region near the occupied Golan Heights.

The Israeli military was concerned the mortar attack from Gaza that appeared to target a town of several thousand people about a kilometer from Israel's border with the Palestinian territory.

The Israeli military said it considered the strike -- three mortars, apparently homemade, that hit harmlessly on the outskirts of Sderot in the Negev Desert -- "very serious" because previous attacks have targeted villages closer to the border.

Sderot is 1 kilometer into southern Israel from Gaza.

Israeli tanks lobbed shells of their own back toward the origination point of the Palestinian shells, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian Authority said a security center had been hit, and two Palestinian police officers had been wounded.

Palestinian Authority Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, meanwhile, denied that the mortar shells had been fired by any group connected to the Palestinian Authority and said the incident should not fuel "further aggression."

Attacks on two fronts

Military officials said the Palestinian attacks, combined with the Hezbollah attacks from Lebanon, left them to engage in confrontation on two separate fronts.

In the latest Hezbollah attack, an Israeli soldier was killed on Saturday when the group targeted an Israel Defense Forces tank in the area.

"Last night's attack was a very clear signal to Syria that the rules of the game are changing and that Israel will exact the price from those who allow such attacks to take place," said Ra'anan Gissin, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Sharon's security cabinet approved the attack on an 11-2 vote, with only former Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, both members of the Labor Party, voted against the raid.

The air strike coincided with the arrival in Jerusalem of Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah Khatib to promote a Jordan-Egypt plan -- approved by Arafat -- aimed at defusing tensions and resuming peace negotiations.

'Dangerous escalation'

The Syrian facility was east of Beirut, on the main road between the Lebanese capital and the Syrian capital, Damascus. Syrian troops were put on high alert in the aftermath of the air strikes.

In the first official Lebanese reaction to the strikes, Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri said Israel's military action was "a dangerous attack on both Syria and Lebanon."

He warned against any further Israeli decisions to widen the "circle of tension" in the area, calling on the international community to move quickly in order to contain such tension before it takes on dangerous dimensions.

Israel condemns, however, what it sees as continued attacks on its territory and citizens, launched out of Lebanon. Nearly a year ago, Israel withdrew its troops from a self-imposed security zone in southern Lebanon, but Hezbollah has kept up its attacks because of Shebaa Farms, a triangle of land at the foot of the Golan Heights bordered by Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Syria and Lebanon say the land belongs to Lebanon and that until it is returned, Israel has not complied with its promise to withdraw from Lebanon.

But Israel -- along with the United Nations -- contends that Israel seized the area during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war from Syria, and its fate can only be determined in talks with that nation.

Since May 24, 2000, when Israel withdrew from south Lebanon, there have been eight attacks by Hezbollah guerrillas on the Israeli army at the border. Three Israeli soldiers died, and three soldiers and one Israeli civilian were kidnapped.

CNN correspondents Mike Hanna and Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.

Israel retaliates for Hezbollah attack
April 14, 2001

Lebanese Armed Forces
Lebanese Presidential Palace
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Knesset, Israeli Parliament
Israel Defense Forces
Permanent Mission of Israel to the U.N.

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