An IDF battalion commander was killed and another officer was seriously injured in an exchange of fire between the IDF and the Lebanese army along the northern border this morning. The officer who died was named as Lt. Col. Dov Harari, 45, of Netanya.

The IDF believes that the incident was the individual initiative of Lebanese army snipers in a Southern Lebanon outpost, rather than official Lebanese government policy.

The IDF retaliated by firing at the Lebanese village of Adisha near Raja. "Al Jazeera" claimed that IDF forces had entered Lebanese territory and there were reports that at least four Lebanese were killed.

In the wake of the reports the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange fell nearly 1% in three minutes. The Tel Aviv 25 Index had been up 0.5% on the day and slipped to 0.4% down.

“IDF Radio" (Galei Zahal) reported that, "This was the worst incident since the end of the Second Lebanon War. The Lebanese "Al Arrabiya" network reported that an Israeli tank fired shells towards a house in the northern part of the Lebanese village of Adisha and that there was a heavy exchange of fire between the IDF and the Lebanese army in the south of the country.

The mayor of Kiryat Shmona said that residents should "continue as usual" and no instructions had been received for people to enter shelters.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 3, 2010

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