Posted on 07/25/2006 5:09:53 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
ISRAELI warplanes blasted Beirut and troops battled Hezbollah guerrillas on the border two weeks into the Lebanon conflict, as Israel effectively ruled out any chance of a rapid ceasefire.
The bombing on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital ended a 24-hour lull that coincided with a lightning visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
With no end in sight to a conflict that has already claimed at least 390 lives on the Lebanese side alone, Defence Minister Amir Peretz warned Israel could establish its own security zone in southern Lebanon if multinational troops were not deployed along Israel's border.
An entire family of seven was killed when an Israeli missile slammed into their home in southern Lebanon while troops besieged a key border town where Hezbollah has a military headquarters.
"Israel is determined to carry on the fight against Hezbollah," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at a press conference with Dr Rice.
But Mr Olmert said: "We are not fighting the Lebanese Government or the Lebanese people. We are fighting against Hezbollah."
Dr Rice, in Israel after making a surprise visit to bomb-scarred Beirut, said it was "time for a new Middle East" and underlined Washington's stance that an immediate ceasefire would only put off a long-term solution to the conflict.
"A durable solution will be one that strengthens the forces of peace and democracy in the region," she said.
"The people of this region, Israelis, Lebanese, and the Palestinians have lived too long in fear, and in terror, and in violence."
Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya said the US view of a new Middle East was one that began with "destroying Lebanon" and with killing the maximum number of Palestinians.
Hundreds of thousands in Lebanon have been forced to flee their homes, creating what the United Nations warns is a humanitarian catastrophe. Human Rights Watch accused Israel of using artillery-fired cluster bombs in Lebanon and demanded the Jewish state immediately halt the practice.
Washington is under pressure from European and Arab allies to try to bring an end to the crisis amid charges it was dragging its feet to allow Israel time to attempt to wipe out the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which set off the conflict after seizing two soldiers on July 12.
But Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who is acting as an intermediary for Hezbollah, rejected Dr Rice's reported plan and said there must first be a ceasefire and a prisoner swap.
Israel is struggling to knock out Hezbollah despite its vastly superior military might and has now suggested it would accept some form of international force in southern Lebanon, currently in the grip of the Shiite militia.
A 15-year-old Arab Israeli girl was killed after a rocket hit her house in a village in northern Israel as more than a dozen rockets fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon pummelled the northern port of Haifa, wounding at least five people.
Israeli forces claimed they had taken the border town of Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold, amid fierce gunbattles as troops in tanks and bulldozers pushed even deeper into Lebanon.
"Beit Jbeil is in our hands," General Alon Friedman, one of Israel's top commanders for its northern region, told army radio. It was not confirmed if troops were actually inside the town.
Eight Shiite militants were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah and its ally the Amal movement said, without specifying the date or location of their deaths.
Israel has massed troops on the border and warned residents of southern Lebanon to flee but says it has no plans for an all-out invasion - for now.
Aid amounting to $US250 million ($331.98 million) would also go to the Palestinians to help rebuild the Palestinian territories, a decree by King Abdullah said.
I just heard on Fox radio news that the Hezzies are hiding among the people and Israel is still shooting at them.
Maybe the Lebanese should buy a clue, turn around and kill a Hezzie. Might end things a bit quicker.
If I was Lebanese, that is EXACTLY what I'd be doing!
"If I was Lebanese, that is EXACTLY what I'd be doing!"
If I knew my wife wouldn't divorce me, I would go back to the kibbutz I lived on and try to sign up. Even if it was to help out doing logistics and stuff.
Mate, I'd be tempted to join you!
No more screwing around. Israel MUST finish what it's started.
You are correct. This cannot be a half finished job if Israel ever wants to find peace.
(Go Israel, Go! Slap 'Em Down Hezbullies.)
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