NEW MIDEAST ACTION – AT 10:31 A.M. ET:  Reports on this are just coming in.  From The New York Times: 

JERUSALEM — Two Israeli soldiers were killed and seven were wounded in a missile attack on a military convoy in a disputed area along the Lebanese border on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military, in what appeared to be the most serious flare-up in the area in years.

The military did not provide additional details. There may also have been some civilian casualties, according to the military, but the situation was not immediately clear.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying in a statement that its Quneitra Martyrs Brigade carried it out at 11:35 a.m.

The attack was the latest in a string of recent events along Israel’s northern frontiers that have sharply escalated tensions between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, and that have raised the risk of broader confrontation.

About an hour after the initial attack on the military convoy, several mortar shells were fired at Israeli military positions in the border area and on Mount Hermon in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, without causing injury.

The Israeli military said it responded with combined aerial and ground strikes at what it called “Hezbollah operational positions” in Lebanon, and said that it might take further action.

COMMENT:  We're watching this closely because it could escalate rapidly.  There is a body of thought that holds that Hezbollah wants to draw Israel into ground combat to show its strength. 

It's a tinderbox.  There are also reports that a Spanish UN soldier, part of a force sent to the area to keep the peace, was also killed.

Stand by.

January 28, 2015