by Jihad Saqlawi
AITA SHAAB, Lebanon, July 20 (AFP) - Two Israeli soldiers and a Hezbollah militiaman were killed on Tuesday as air raids and gun battles raged across the volatile Israel-Lebanon border.
The deadly violence erupted a day after a military commander of the radical Shiite Muslim Hezbollah movement was blown up in a Beirut car bomb attack blamed on the Jewish state.
Lebanon said it was considering a protest to the United Nations over what it called "aggressions" by archfoe Israel on its soil, while Hezbollah warned it would avenge the killing of a second militant in two days.
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed to "cut the hand" of Israel on Monday after blaming it for the bombing which killed Ghaleb Awwali, a member of the movement`s military wing.
Cross-border clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have continued since Israel`s May 2000 troop pullout from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
"There was a deliberate attack by Hezbollah snipers on a Tshahal (army) position in the western area of the border. Two soldiers have been killed," Israeli army Captain Jacob Dallal said.
"The army has responded to the shooting," he added.
Israeli combat helicopters fired eight rockets during three raids on Hezbollah "monitoring posts" on the outskirts of the border villages of Aita Shaab and Blatt, Hezbollah and police sources said.
An Israeli tank also opened fire on a Hezbollah post near Aita Shaab, killing one fighter, according to a statement by the movement`s military arm known as the Islamic Resistance.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid gave instructions to Lebanon`s UN envoy to hold consultations "on the possibility of calling a special Security Council meeting to condemn the Israeli aggressions," his ministry said.
In Jerusalem, Israeli military sources said Hezbollah snipers fired at soldiers manning a post in northern Israel, prompting the Israelis to fire tank shells across the border into southern Lebanon.
The troops then destroyed a Hezbollah position in Lebanese territory, they said.
Lebanese police said Israeli helicopters combed the borders with machineguns under the cover of warplanes which prompted Hezbollah anti-aircraft fire that missed the aircraft.
The Israeli strikes resulted in a number of fires in border areas in southern Lebanon, police said.
"The Islamic Resistance will choose the suitable time and place for a deterrent response that will make the enemy understand that any aggression against our people... will be very costly," it said.
Awwali was killed barely 24 hours earlier in an attack which Hezbollah blamed on the Jewish state despite an alleged claim of responsibility by an underground Lebanese Sunni Muslim group.
The attack was carried out "either by Israeli hands that infiltrated into Lebanon with European, American or other foreign passports, or at the hands of local Lebanese agents," Nasrallah said on Monday.
A statement by a shadowy Sunni Muslim group called Jund Ash Sham said the bombing was part of a plan to eradicate Shiite "heresy," but the group`s leader later denied any involvement and blamed Israel`s Mossad spy agency.
Israeli officials refused to make any comment but one senior source said that Israel "did not have that kind of reach or potency."
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud termed the assassination a flagrant aggression by Israel and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri said he was confident the criminals would be arrested and given a punishment they deserved.
The Islamic Resistance waged a guerrilla war that was instrumental in leading to the Jewish state`s withdrawal from its northern neighbour more than four years ago.
Hezbollah vowed to continue fighting to force a similar withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms controversial border territory, which Israel had seized from Syria in 1967, but is claimed by Beirut with the consent of its political masters in Damascus.