'We have to get rid of this devil Hezbollah...they attack our towns every day' - SHADI KHALLOUL, ISRAELI DEFENCE SQUAD

ON ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER TO SEE DEADLY FIGHT WITH MILITIA

- CHRIS HUGHES

ROARING fighter jets and the deep boom of explosives shatter the stunning beauty of the mountains of Galilee.

A tit-for-tat exchange of rockets, shells, and bombs between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah fanatics has been escalating for months.

Around 80,000 Israelis have fled the northern border area while 100,000 Lebanese have evacuated their side.

They have left ghost towns and abandoned kibbutzim in their wake - although many refuse to budge.

Sasa kibbutz is one village in the sights of Iran-sponsored Hezbollah which are just over a mile away across the frontier. We visited just after a shell piled into the community.

Lecturer Angelica Kalo Livne, 68, screamed at us to get inside a building because "if they see you they will strike". She told us: "The kibbutz was hit just a few hours ago. I don't know when it will end.

"It is terrifying, they don't care that there is a school here, that they might hit children. Weeks ago they hit the auditorium with a missile. Usually, there might be children here - we only evacuated it earlier that day."

By the time we leave, revenge air strikes kill three Hezbollah fighters.

Through a camera lens, we could see buildings smashed, with blackened holes in their walls.

We also spoke to ex-paratrooper Shadi Khalloul, 48, a father of two and Maronite Christian. He is part of a defence squad of ex-military men ready to fight alongside the army if Hezbollah launch a ground attack. As bombs crunch across the frontier, he explained: "That's our reply to the explosions earlier this day. It happens all of the time.

"We have to get rid of this devil Hezbollah it is attacking our towns every day here in Galilee, and also Christian people are being bullied across the border in Lebanon.