Posted on 08/01/2006 2:48:27 PM PDT by mojito
Lebanese army and security officials said Tuesday night that a major IDF operation was underway against suspected Hizbullah positions near Baalbeek in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, with one officer saying the IAF presence in the air above the ancient city was "unprecedented."
The operation began with at least five rapid air strikes.
"The extreme, unprecedented number of aircraft indicates the possibility that the Israelis are planning to land troops, but we cannot yet confirm that," said one security official.
Flares held aloft by parachutes lighted the night sky to a daytime brilliance, the official said.
Hizbullah's al-Manar television said IAF helicopters were taking heavy guerrilla fire but had not landed any commandos.
Israeli helicopters also attacked a target 15 kilometers west of Baalbek, starting a huge fire, witnesses said.
Earlier Tuesday, the IAF struck three Hizbullah bunkers in the western zone of southern Lebanon.
Warplanes also hit Hizbullah fighters battling with soldiers near the border as the guerrillas fired mortars into Israel.
Any Syrian force would get decimated on the ground by Israel's airforce doing their own version of "Road of Death".
That is where the resupply for the Hizb is bogged down.
They want to destroy the other 10,000 rockets before they are delivered to the launchers.
"Current reports say the kidnapping attempt failed and gun battles are taking place at the scene."
So, maybe the IDF just killed the MO instead of trying to kidnap him?
hehehehehehe
come on guys and girls of the press ask the tough questions
Now, now, now...you can't expect people with an IQ of under 70 and the gullibility of infants to ask tough questions - about terrorists.
Of course, if the questions needed to be directed toward anyone in the West, you'd be faced with a bunch of reporters who were a combination of a pit bull and Sherlock Holmes.
Especially considering this is ONLY 35 MILES from Damascus!!
This article says they were unsuccessful, and there is a force still in the hospital, fighting.
Touche.
Hugh Hewitt just mentioned Free Republic and the coverage of IDF in the Bekaa Valley on his radio show. Way to go Freepers and Morning Glory Hugh.
Chestie! You've gotta love him. Had the opportunity to meet him several times; served in Nam with his son; know his daughters and their Marine husbands. And I have had the experience as a Marine of being surrounded. You don't want to do that to Marines. Target-rich environment when you can get some in every direction (if you can shoot straight). Marines are pretty good at making their rounds count, and if the IDF is the same, don't surround them unless you seek martyrdom and it's reward of 72 smelly and unmarriable old crones.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284959,00.html
It remains unclear whether the operation was successful, but witnesses said “the Jews took some people with them.”
A Hizbullah spokesman said gunmen belonging to the organization have besieged an IDF unit that was transported by air to the area. According to reports, the Israeli forces have entrenched themselves inside the hospital and are engaging in face-to-face combat with local gunmen.
Eyewitnesses inside the hospital told Al-Arabiya that exchanges of fire are taking place inside the hospital and that there are numerous casualties at the scene.
another update:
IDF commandos conducting raid deep in Lebanon
By Amos Harel and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Israeli commandos landed by helicopter late Tuesday night near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in what Lebanese security sources described as a major operation against suspected Hezbollah positions.
Lebanese security sources said the troops landed as aircraft launched several strikes near Baalbek, which is located in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. One Lebanese officer saying the Israel Air Force presence in the air above the ancient city was "unprecedented."
The army refused to comment on the reports.
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Hezbollah's chief spokesman told the Associated Press that Israeli troops had landed near a Baalbek hospital and that fierce fighting was raging between commandos and guerrilla fighters. "There was really an Israeli landing of troops around the Dar al-Hikma Hospital in Baalbek. Hezbollah fighters engaged Israeli troops in fierce fighting that has been raging on for more than an hour," said Hussein Rahal, Hezbollah's media chief.
The operation began with at least five rapid air strikes three hours before the end of Israel's self-imposed two-day pause in air attacks.
"The extreme, unprecedented number of aircraft indicates the possibility that the Israelis are planning to land troops, but we cannot yet confirm that," said one security official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.
Other security officials, also speaking anonymously for the same reason, denied IDF troops were on the ground. Flares held aloft by parachutes lighted the night sky to a daytime brilliance, the official said.
Witnesses in Baalbek said they saw dozens of IAF helicopters hovering over the city. They said a private hospital in Baalbek, filled with patients and wounded people, was bombed by IAF helicopters late Tuesday. Plumes of burning smoke billowed from the hospital after it was directly hit, they said.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
Baalbek is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Litani River, which Israel had set as a northern boundary for an expanded ground operation that was announced in the early hours Tuesday.
IAF warplanes and helicopters started the operation on Baalbek and its surroundings at 10:20 P.M.
Baalbek, an ancient city with spectacular Roman ruins, was a former Syrian army headquarters and included the barracks of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards when they trained Hezbollah guerrillas there in the 1980s.
IAF helicopters also attacked a target 15 kilometers west of Baalbek, starting a huge fire, witnesses said. It was not immediately known if the target was controlled by Hezbollah or the Lebanese army.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/745276.html
However what's probably doing much of the work is one of these:
An F-15I"RA'AM" (Thunderbolt) , essentially the same, right down to the LANTIRN pods, as our F-15E. (or the Saudi F-15S, S. Korean F-15K, etc). And these:
F-4E Phantom - "KORNAS 2000" (Slegehammer 2000) (Notice the IR tracking/LASER targeting pod, and there's a totally different radar (mainly for painting the ground) under that radome as well.
Big bump for later!
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,19992741-661,00.html
Israeli crew surrounded
August 02, 2006 12:00am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
HEZBOLLAH guerrillas have surrounded an Israeli military helicopter crew after they landed near the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek amid fierce fighting late today, a militia spokesman said.
The Israeli troops ran into a local hospital south of the city and militants encircled the building, the spokesman said, without saying how many Israeli troops were on the ground or if any were injured.
Cowards all of them....
"Yazbek was reportedly surrounded by other senior Hizbullah members" (in the hospital)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284959,00.html
I wonder whether the IAF has anything like our Spectre gunships...wouldn't be a bad thing to have if you need to lay down a massive amount of highly directed fire.
I just can't imagine they'll be there or, ever were there. If reports were correct that the convoys were escorted by Russian Spetnaz, whatever was being transported went to the Mediterranian where it was loaded onto Russian warships.
Suppose Saddam had asked Syria to take all of his chemical weapons. Wouldn't that effectively be saying "Please take this load of toxic waste off my hands."?
The U.S. is still having trouble getting rid of it's own cold war chemical weapons. Perhaps a regime that just wanted weapons wouldn't think so much about this. But even a regime that didn't care about environmental concerns might wonder what condition the weapons were in and how long they would last in storage before causing some big disaster. It's not clear the Russians would want to accept the potential hassle and expense.
It would be have to be a lot more than 10%.
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