Hezbollah guerrillas fire missiles at Israeli positions, Israel says

HAR DOV, Israel (CNN) -- Hezbollah guerrillas fired missiles from Lebanon at Israeli outposts in the disputed Shebaa Farms area near here Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces said.

No one was injured, and the IDF said the Israeli military was returning fire.

In Beirut, the Hezbollah guerrilla organization said its fighters had attacked an Israeli patrol in the Shebaa Farms area in retaliation for what Hezbollah said had been continuous Israeli violations of Lebanese air space.

Hezbollah claimed the Israeli patrol was hit directly during an ambush but gave no details about what weapons were used.

The Hezbollah attack follows months of overflights by Israeli warplanes across Lebanon, overflights which the United Nations say are a violation of a U.N. imposed withdrawal line established after Israel withdrew its occupation troops from South Lebanon some 20 months ago.

The Shebaa Farms area is at the base of the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The United Nations, which certified Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, considers the disputed area Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.

Hezbollah is a militant group, whose stated objective is to drive all "occupying" forces out of Lebanon. Hezbollah is also devoted to establishing an Iran-style Islamic state in Lebanon, according to the U.S. State Department.

Hezbollah's arsenal of weapons includes rockets and missiles, as well as unconventional means of attacks such as car bombs and booby-traps. The United States and Israel label Hezbollah a terrorist group, and the United States believes Hezbollah gets large amounts of aid from Syria and Iran.

It is viewed positively by many in the Arab world, as a force to drive out international occupation from Lebanon.