ARABS-ISRAEL - Aug. 10 - Israeli Teenager Killed By Hizbollah Fire.

Shells fired from southern Lebanon by Hizbollah guerrillas kill a 16-year-old boy and lightly wound four people in the northern Israeli town of Shlomi. Israeli warplanes responded by attacking the outskirts of a border village in southern Lebanon. The incident is the first Israeli civilian death since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000. Despite the Israeli withdrawal, the conflict has continued over the disputed Shebaa Farms area. Hizbollah and Lebanon claim it is Lebanese territory, while the UN has ruled it is Israeli-occupied Syrian territory. The latest escalation follows seven months of relative calm, as Syria came under international pressure to restrain Hizbollah. The escalation also follows the assassination of a Hizbollah member in Beirut a week ago, blamed by the organisation on Israel. Hizbollah attacked Israeli positions in a disputed area of the border on Aug. 8 in what it said was retaliation for the Beirut killing. Israeli FM Silvan Shalom accused Syria, Hizbollah's sponsor, and Lebanon of being behind the attack, a view echoed by the US administration in protests to Damascus and Beirut. US State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said on Aug. 8: "We have made clear to Lebanon and Syria our serious concern over this calculated and provocative escalation by Hizbollah". Shalom said on Aug. 10 that if Syria and Lebanon did not restrain Hizbollah, "we will have no choice but to defend ourselves". Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon told the Israeli government that Hizbollah was deliberately heightening tension on the border. He said the Lebanese organisation was under pressure because it had failed to secure the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails at a time when Israel was freeing Palestinians. He said the Israeli Army was preparing for possible further attacks. Israel Radio said Israeli and US diplomats were contemplating referring the Hizbollah attacks to the UN Security Council, of which Syria is the current president.