KFARSHOUBA (Lebanon), May 13: Violence flared on Lebanon’s border with Israel on Friday for the first time in four months as preparations quickened for parliamentary elections in two weeks’ time. The Friday flare-up underlined the dangers of a power vacuum in Lebanon after Syria ended its 29-year troop deployment last month, with the anti-Syrian opposition fracturing amid 11th-hour bickering over the constituency boundaries for the elections.

An Israeli military spokeswoman reported no fewer than nine explosions near Israeli positions in the disputed Shebaa Farms district. Israeli tanks, artillery and warplanes retaliated, destroying four Hezbollah positions across the border, she added.

A Lebanese police report said Israeli gunners began the clashes with heavy machinegun fire on the village of Kfarshouba early afternoon, which damaged a house but caused no casualties. Israel denied the Kfarshouba shooting.—AFP