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Barak vows tough response to Hezbollah attacks

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has pledged to strike back forcefully against deadly Hezbollah guerrilla attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon, a government source said on Monday.

"The situation has become intolerable and we will respond severely," Barak told an overnight meeting of top military officials including chief of staff Shaul Mofaz following the death of an Israeli soldier at the hands of the Shiite Hezbollah on Sunday.

"It must be understood that we will decide on the place and time of the riposte, knowing that we are free to take any action when it concerns our security," he added.

Barak, who is also defence minister, has called a special meeting of his security cabinet on Monday to discuss the escalating violence in Lebanon.

Five Israeli soldiers have been killed this year by Hezbollah, the Iranian Ñ and Syrian-backed group that spearheads the armed campaign to end Israeli's near 22-year occupation of south Lebanon.

Barak, himself a former army chief of staff, has repeatedly pledged to pull out the troops by July, the anniversary of his taking office.

Yedidia Gefen, 20, of Jerusalem, was killed in a hail of mortar fire on Sunday after a roadside bomb exploded near an outpost in the western sector of the Israeli-controlled security zone. Another seven soldiers were injured. AFP