Ya’alon tours site of Hezbollah attacks in north

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Israel’s northern border on Tuesday to inspect the site of a Hezbollah attack on IDF soldiers, which occurred the previous day.

Touring the area near the Shebaa Farms, known in Israel as Mount Dov, Ya’alon said “the IDF is prepared to respond as necessary, as it responded yesterday harshly against the attack in the Har Dov area.”

On Monday, an improvised explosive device detonated near an Israeli army bulldozer and another vehicle near the border with Lebanon. No soldiers were injured in the attack.

Hezbollah took responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a cell named for the terrorist Samir Kuntar, who was killed in a Damascus airstrike widely attributed to Israel on December 20.

Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah had denounced the assassination in a speech in late December and vowed that retaliation for Kuntar’s death would “inevitably come.”

Monday’s attacks were apparently Hezbollah’s first attempt since the assassination to exact revenge.

During Ya’alon’s visit, he spoke with Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, of the Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, and Brig. Gen. Yaniv Assor, head of the Bashan Division, which is responsible for the Golan Heights, his office said.

The defense minister praised the troops stationed along the border.

“I applaud the IDF and its Northern Command for both its preparedness for the attack and its response to that attack. We are prepared for any development.”