Hizballah and their Iranian puppetmasters are getting frisky again on the border with Israel: Shooting erupts on Israel-Lebanon border.

JERUSALEM - Fighting broke out between Israeli and Lebanese soldiers Wednesday night as Israel searched for Hezbollah bombs along the frontier between the two countries, officials from both sides said.

Lebanese soldiers opened fire and Israeli troops responded with tanks and light weapons, Israeli security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Lebanese military officials said their troops opened fire with machine guns on a bulldozer after the vehicle crossed the so-called Blue Line — the U.N.-demarcated boundary — and entered about 20 yards into Lebanon.

The Israeli army spokesman’s office confirmed the incident, but could not confirm that the source of the shooting was Lebanese troops.

The army said the Israeli force was clearing land and searching for bombs near the spot where Israeli troops discovered four explosive devices planted by Hezbollah on Monday.

It was the first time that shooting erupted across the border since shortly after a cease-fire on Aug. 14 ended a 34-day summer war between Israeli forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah militants. Lebanese Army troops serve alongside international peacekeepers in south Lebanon, a force meant to maintain the U.N.-brokered cease-fire that ended the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah last summer.

Ah yes, the UN’s peacekeeping “force.” How’s that peacekeeping going, without using any force? ‘UNIFIL ignoring Hizbullah hostilities’.

Defense officials slammed UNIFIL and the Lebanese government Monday night, claiming that their “slackness” was what enabled Hizbullah to plant five deadly explosive devices along the border between Israel and Lebanon. IDF officials said it was possible that the bombs were planted as part of a planned kidnapping attack similar to the July 12 abduction of reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser that sparked the war this past summer.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz transmitted a harsh-worded message to UNIFIL command in Lebanon and urged the peacekeeping force to crack down on Hizbullah and prevent the guerrilla group from returning to the border and carrying out attacks against Israel.

The Northern Command assessed that the bombs found on Monday, just north of Avivim and right along the Blue Line international border between Israel and Lebanon, were planted there only a few days ago by Hizbullah.

UPDATE at 2/7/07 3:36:47 pm:

More details on the confrontation at Israel Matzav: Breaking: Lebanese troops open fire on IDF units on border.