Israel made helicopter gunship attacks on suspected Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon following the killing, earlier in the day, of Akel Hashem, the second in command of the pro-Israeli South Lebanon militia. Hashem was killed by a bomb attack. Israel pledged to avenge his death and said the peace talks with Syria could suffer because of this incident. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, two Hezbollah guerillas were killed (by militia troops) while planting bombs in south Lebanon.