Hours after its fighters clashed with Israeli forces in a disputed border area, the Lebanese group Hezbollah stressed yesterday that it will not allow Israel to cross the "red line" and attack Lebanese civilians or targets, a senior Hezbollah official said. In an interview with Gulf News, Nabeel Qawook, Hezbollah official in southern Lebanon, also emphasised that American pressures to disarm the group "will not change our position vis-a-vis our right in defending Lebanese sovereignty and protecting our people".

"The Israeli enemy is trying to take advantage of the internal affairs in Lebanon, whether being related to [upcoming parliamentary] elections or political changes," he said in reference to the recent Syrian withdrawal as per the UN Resolution 1559.

The resolution also calls for disarming all Lebanese groups, including Hezbollah, whose attacks on Israel led to Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

"They think they can gain at the expense of the Lebanese sovereignty .... What we did was to express that we are sticking to our right to resistance to defend our country's sovereignty."

Qawook was speaking hours after Hezbollah said its fighters retaliated after Israeli forces fired on houses in areas facing the disputed Shebaa farms.

"The Islamic Resistance [Hezbollah's military wing] attacked the Israeli position ... with appropriate weapons, scoring direct hits," a group statement said.

AP quoted Lebanese security officials as saying the Hezbollah fired rocket-propelled grenades and mortar shells at the Israeli position.

They said the Hezbollah attack came about an hour after Israeli forces opened machine-gun fire on houses in the village of Shebaa, shattering windows and causing damage, the officials said.

In Occupied Jerusalem, an Israeli army spokesman said soldiers had fired a number of warning shots in the air when they saw several shepherds attempting to cross the border into Israel.

Later, the spokesman said, soldiers saw trajectory missiles fired across the border from Lebanon.

However, Qawook stressed that the shepherds were in the Lebanese "liberated" lands.

"What happened is an Israeli aggression, and accordingly the resistance considers protecting civilians ... We will not allow the repetition of the violations and we will be on alert," he stressed.

On the pressure to disarm, Qawook said: "Pressures will not change a thing about our rights."

"If the American pressures are providing a cover to the Israelis to violate the Lebanese territories, then this is an illusion that would backfire on them."

Jumana Al Tamimi is GCC & Middle East Editor for Gulf News. Her article first appeared in Gulf News on May 22, 2004