Posted on 07/15/2006 4:42:02 PM PDT by Pokey78
THE aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was being prepared last night to sail to the coast of Lebanon to rescue British people stranded by Israeli airstrikes.
Des Browne, the defence secretary, ordered preparations for an urgent evacuation. An estimated 10,000 British citizens and up to 15,000 dual nationals are in Lebanon, which has been bombarded for four days in an escalating crisis triggered by the abduction of two Israeli soldiers.
Illustrious was being readied for the mission in Gibraltar and will be joined by HMS Bulwark, an amphibious assault warship. A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said no decision had been made about the tasks the ships would perform. However, a growing number of tourists were trapped in Beirut.
Israel has dispatched a hit squad of special forces to hunt down Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hezbollah group that abducted the soldiers.
Military leaders believe that killing Nasrallah, who escaped unhurt when his home and office in Beirut were bombed on Friday, could help to bring a swift end to their biggest attack on Lebanon in 24 years. Its all a matter of intelligence, said a military source.
Further groups of special forces have crossed into south Lebanon to target the launchers of more than 350 Hezbollah rockets that have rained down on Israel, killing four people and injuring 60. Two barrages struck the resort town of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee yesterday and sent tourists fleeing.
Israel stepped up airstrikes on Lebanon yesterday on the fourth day of a bombardment that has killed 96 people and left at least 165 wounded.
It destroyed offices in Beirut belonging to Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas, which is holding a third Israeli soldier hostage in Gaza.
Helicopter gunships fired rockets into the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli and at least 27 civilians died in airstrikes in the south, including 15 in a convoy fleeing the border village of Marwaheen.
A senior Israeli intelligence official said troops from Iran had helped Hezbollah to fire an Iranian-made radar-guided missile that damaged an Israeli warship on Friday night with the loss of four soldiers on board. A second land-to-sea missile was said to have sunk an Egyptian merchant ship with 12 sailors on board.
Israel deployed its Patriot defence system to intercept long-range missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv.
Good.
And NO LAUGHING! The Brits get touchy when you make fun of their little aircraft carriers.
It's the French aircraft carrier (De-Gaul) that carries all the mirth.....
Propellers fall off.
Flight deck too short. ....
Windows around command post frosted up....
And on occasional use the washing machines create noise and vibration that can be heard by submarines for miles.
...have I missed anything...?
I'm sure that applies to the Frogs too, but they were all to snooty to go drinking with. The Brits generally aren't, but no matter how many pints you get into them they don't like for the Yanks to make fun of their cute little bird farms.
Nasrallah is already in Damascus...he bugged out when he read the Israeli pamphlets.
The smell. You can smell the BO and garlic over the horizon. Christ, you can see it. You'd of thought they were burning dirty diesel fuel until you cross that cloud of foul rankness.
The small one on the right.
Adorable, isn't it? :)
The toilets don't work.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. It's cute!
I hear the showers don't work either, but it's gone undiscovered by the frogs.
Great photo! What can you say, it's built for harrier jets:
vertical take-off.
Really! Anybody who hears anything else about this, let me know!
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"An estimated 10,000 British citizens and up to 15,000 dual nationals are in Lebanon"
IMHO they might want to consider leaving them there.
That's interesting: they don't seem to have steam catapults.
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