Just today, despite the official cease-fire, guerrillas were accused of blowing up a motel, killing two people, in Celopek, the hometown of the nation's hard-line interior minister.
The battles began Wednesday, when American soldiers visiting the mayor's office came under fire from guerrillas armed with AK-47's and rocket-propelled grenades, said Maj. Neal E. O'Brien, a spokesman for the First Infantry Division.
An antiaircraft shell fired by guerrillas landed near a kindergarten in the Israeli border community of Margaliot, but there were no casualties.
NATO's top commander, Gen. Joseph Ralston, met with alliance officers and Macedonian security chiefs in Skopje today to assess whether a cease-fire with guerrillas had improved enough to begin NATO's third Balkans mission since 1995.
A marine climbed the minaret and fired on guerrilla gunmen, witnesses told the agency.
The Israeli government said in a statement that it held Syria responsible for the Hezbollah attack on Friday, when guerrillas fired rockets and mortars at two Israeli positions in a border area known as Shebaa Farms.
Prime Minister Sharon is right to hold Syria accountable for letting Lebanese guerrillas fire on Israeli soldiers across the international border.
But the commander described several times when he ordered his men not to return fire because the guerrillas were in villages -- violating the rules of engagement established in 1996 -- and using women with children and elderly men as shields.
Across Israel's northern border, Hezbollah guerrillas fired mortar rounds and antitank rockets at Israeli Army positions, prompting return fire from tanks, artillery and helicopters, as well as stern warnings from Israeli officials.
Hezbollah guerrillas fired rockets and mortars at Israeli military positions after the air strike, drawing Israeli artillery fire at the Lebanese village of Kafr Shouba, where at least one person was reported wounded.
The army said the toll was so high because Palestinian guerrillas fired from within civilian areas.
