2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid

2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid
Part of the 2000–2006 Shebaa Farms conflict, the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, and the Iran–Israel proxy conflict
Coffins of the Israeli soldiers abducted and killed by Hezbollah during the raid
Date 7 October 2000[1] Location Israel–Lebanon border 33°17′0″N 35°42′0″E / 33.28333°N 35.70000°E / 33.28333; 35.70000 Result Hezbollah victory Outbreak of 2-month-long exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah on the border
Belligerents
Israel	Hezbollah
Casualties and losses
3 soldiers captured (later died)	Unknown

The 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid occurred at the boundary between Lebanon and the Golan Heights (see Blue Line) on October 7. Hezbollah militants captured three Israeli soldiers while they were patrolling the security fence, and subsequently took them into Lebanon. While the time and circumstances of the three soldiers' deaths remain unknown, their bodies were returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange on 29 January 2004.

The abduction was the first incident between Israel and Lebanon after the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. It was followed by several other attempts by Hezbollah to abduct Israeli soldiers at the border; eventually, on 12 July 2006, the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid saw eight Israeli soldiers killed and another two abducted and later killed in Lebanon, which triggered the 2006 Lebanon War.