ISRAEL VS. SYRIA

World Tribune: Israel In Big Military Build-Up On Lebanon Border

TEL AVIV -- Israel's military has launched a build-up along the borders with Lebanon and Syria.

Israel's military has sent an additional artillery battery and summoned three battalions for the build-up in the north. The build-up was said to have been the largest in the area since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000.

Military sources said the mobilization was ordered by Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, who overruled a recommendation by Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. The sources said Ya'alon drafted plans for a more modest reinforcement in the north.

The Israeli military build-up came in wake of Hizbullah rocket and mortar attacks on civilian and military positions along the northern Israeli border on Monday and Tuesday. The sources said Mofaz intends to use the build-up to deter Hizbullah from continuing its attacks.

On Wednesday, Israel's military surrounded all Arab-populated cities in the West Bank and sliced the Gaza Strip into four areas. The sources said the measures were in response to 37 alerts of suicide and other Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilian targets.