BEIRUT, June 30 (Xinhuanet) -- UN special representative for southern Lebanon Geir Pederson on Thursday condemned the deadly fighting along the border between Lebanon and Israel, calling for measures from both countries to avoid an escalation of tension.

    In a statement released here, Pederson said Hezbollah (party ofgod) fighters in Lebanon started the flare-up on Wednesday by firing on Israeli troops positioned on the Shebaa Farms, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three others.

    The statement was also critical of ensuing raids by the Israeliair force on Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon, where one guerrilla fighter was killed.

    Urging both countries to respect the Blue Line, drawn by the United Nations to mark Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, Pederson demanded that the Lebanese government deploy troops in the southern part bordering Israel to block any new cross-border fire and that the Israeli authorities "refrain from air violations."

    In another development on Thursday, Hezbollah and the Israeli army were reportedly engaged in another tit-for-tat fighting. The Shi'ite group, however, denied the reports later in the day.

    The latest violence was the worst in six months around the flashpoint Shebaa Farms, an Israeli-controlled area captured from Syria in 1967, but now claimed by Lebanon with Syrian blessing.

    Hezbollah was instrumental in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000. The two foes have clashed sporadically in the Shebaa Farms area since then. Enditem