Israel thinks the perpetrator in the roadside explosion came from Lebanon.
Prior to Monday’s roadside bombing, the Israeli military thinks an armed terrorist passed the boundary from Lebanon into Israel.
The Israeli Arab guy who was seriously injured in the bombing in northern Israel.
According to the military, the alleged assailant had an explosive vest, a gun, and a revolver when he was shot dead by security personnel in a vehicle near the boundary.
It is looking into possible involvement of Hezbollah in Lebanon, which would be a major uptick in tensions.
Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel engaged in a month-long conflict in 2006.
The bombing on Monday happened at Megiddo Junction, a significant road junction about 57 kilometers (35 miles) south of the Lebanese frontier.
Israeli media identified the victim as Sherif al-Din, a 21-year-old Salem native who sustained head and torso fragmentation injuries.
On Wednesday morning, medical professionals reported that he was still in a critical state at a hospital in the city of Haifa.
The accused assailant was reportedly seen in a vehicle outside the border village of Shlomi a few hours after Monday’s explosion, according to a statement released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Wednesday afternoon.
The culprit was shot and slain during an effort to capture him by Shin Bet security agency and Yamam police special forces officers, according to the IDF, who added that they felt he posed a “clear danger” to them.
According to the IDF, he was “found in possession of weapons, including an explosive belt ready to be detonated.”
Israeli national and car’s driver were both detained and are currently being interrogated.
The IDF stated that its current theory was that the perpetrator carried out the bombing either on Saturday or Sunday after crossing from Lebanon into Israel, then attempted to return by requesting an Israeli to transport him to the border.
Additionally, it stated that it was “looking into the possibility of the terrorist group Hezbollah being involved.”
The IDF refused to say whether it was aware of the attacker’s name. However, if this was a cross-border assault by a Hezbollah terrorist, it would be the first such event to be reported in a number of years and could potentially lead to a more severe escalation.
In the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, which broke out after terrorists from Hezbollah initiated a cross-border assault that resulted in the deaths of eight Israeli troops and the kidnapping of two more, more than 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis were slain.
Since then, there have not been any significant confrontations between the two parties, but in 2018 Israel claimed to have found a network of “attack tunnels” that Hezbollah had excavated beneath the boundary.
UN troops are stationed along the “Blue Line,” which separates Lebanon from Israel, which is still technically at war with it.
