MARJAYOUN, Lebanon — Israeli helicopter gunships blasted a village in southern Lebanon on Friday, wounding a guerrilla commander and seven civilians, Lebanese security officials and witnesses said.
The attack came as Israeli aircraft struck suspected guerrilla targets for the seventh straight day and just hours after an Israeli-backed militia abandoned a front-line position, redrawing the boundary of the Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon.
Four gunships fired three missiles at the village of Barish, 10 miles east of the southern port city of Tyre, witnesses reported. One rocket struck the car of a Hezbollah guerrilla commander, said Lebanese officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah said Israel had failed in an attempt to assassinate the commander, but did not name him or say if he was hurt. The group promised retaliation, saying in a statement it would "choose the appropriate time and place."
In the past, Hezbollah has responded to civilian casualties by firing rockets on northern Israel.
A second missile hit a house and a third failed to detonate.
A mother and her 2-year-old daughter were among seven civilians wounded in the attack and taken to a hospital for treatment.
There also were airstrikes on suspected guerrilla targets. Tensions have escalated into the worst fighting in six months following the recent killings of three Israeli soldiers and a militia commander. Hezbollah has claimed responsibility.
An Israeli army statement issued in Jerusalem confirmed the jet strikes but made no mention of the helicopter attack.
The U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, which is often caught in the cross fire, warned that the intensified conflict may force it to relocate some of its positions.
Earlier Friday, militiamen of the Israel-allied South Lebanon Army abandoned and destroyed their Sojod hilltop outpost, which had a commanding view of the Hezbollah stronghold of Iqlim al-Tuffah. Hezbollah hailed the withdrawal as a "new victory."
The Israeli army said the SLA moved to two new positions that "afford better protection and improve the operational ability of the SLA."
Israel and the SLA patrol a strip inside southern Lebanon established in 1985 to prevent cross-border attacks by guerrillas. Hezbollah has been waging a war to oust troops from Lebanese soil.