Lebanon's Hezbollah attacked an Israeli position in the disputed Shebaa Farms area on the Lebanese- Israeli border on Monday, drawing Israeli air strikes in response, security sources said.

Militants of Hezbollah, or Party of God, launched artillery fire to the position near the border, the sources said, adding that there was no immediate word on casualties.

In response, Israeli warplanes struck back on targets on the Lebanese side of the border.

Shebaa Farms area often witnesses exchange of fire between the guerrilla group and Israeli forces.

As an armed group in Lebanon, Hezbollah played an important role in fighting Israel, which ended its 22 years of occupation in south Lebanon in May 2000.

Defying a UN Security Council resolution in September 2004 to disarm, the pro-Iranian group vowed to keep fighting Israel and defending Lebanon.

Lebanon claims sovereignty on the Shebaa Farms border area with Damascus' consent, but the United Nations says it belongs to Syria.

Israel seized the area from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

Source: Xinhua