Posted on 08/01/2006 8:26:51 PM PDT by blam
Israel Says It Has Captured Guerrillas
Wednesday August 2, 2006 4:01 AM
By HUSSEIN DAKROUB
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - Israel poured up to 10,000 armored troops into south Lebanon Tuesday, and separately dropped helicopter-borne commandos deep into the eastern Bekaa Valley where they raided a Hezbollah-run hospital and fought pitched battles with guerrillas, in a major escalation of the three-week-old war.
After the raid on the ancient city of Baalbek ended, the Israeli military said it had captured some guerrillas and hit others. The military statement said all its soldiers returned unharmed to their base, but gave no further details.
The raid on Baalbek, once a Syrian army headquarters 80 miles north of Israel, was the deepest ground attack on Lebanon since fighting began 21 days ago.
The ferocity of the battles in the Bekaa Valley and across southern Lebanon on Tuesday and the determination of the Israelis to keep fighting quelled expectations for an early cease-fire, although U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an agreement on how to end the conflict was possible within days, not weeks.
Hezbollah's rocket attacks into Israel, meanwhile, diminished. Hezbollah fired just 10 rockets across the border Tuesday, well below an average of about 100 a day since fighting began.
Early Wednesday, Hezbollah's chief spokesman Hussein Rahal told The Associated Press Israeli troops landed near the Hezbollah-run Dar al-Hikma Hospital in Baalbek, about 10 miles from Lebanon's border with Syria.
``A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital and are trapped inside as our fighters opened fire on them, and fierce fighting is still raging,'' Rahal said early in the operation.
Rahal dismissed as ``untrue'' reports that the Israeli commandos managed to snatch some patients from the...
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Sure, she learned some about diplomacy from Brent Scowcroft, but she is now a member of President Bush's cabinet.
I don't see them backing down in the WOT. Diplomacy is what it is, an attempt at peacemaking, however each side views it.
Talk softly and carry a big stick.
Bolton in the UN gives me a level of comfort.
It's a good start....now finish the g_d damn job....
Well, that would be more like GWI. This was a raid. In and out. The best they could get was a senior hezzie. And there's a thousand talking turbans ready to replace him. That game's whack-a-muz and has little upside. So the value of the raid is not cutting off supplies or flanking or whoever they captured.
That's why I said it feels more like the Doolittle raid on Tokyo. Not really much upside--a few bombs and a few buildings--until the Japanese withdrew their fleet from forward deployment across most of the Pacific in response.
How about Bolton for Secretary of State? That would be great. Or even Bolton for president, I'd totally support him more than any of the others.
Yeah, with a Hezbollah command center inside it. Anyone who hasn't gotten the pattern yet isn't paying attention.
If Scowcroft things that the Mideast was "stable" at anytime in the last 75 years, he is slightly mistaken.
Hizbalala has seats in the Leb. Gov't. Leb attacked Is.,open aggression. Unprovoked, bust em hard, and keep busting. It's a learning poject.
Oh, I think they will be back. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a push from the Golan to the Litani.
Bolton's doing a stellar job where he is at this time. The more he can do to make the UN irrelevant in world affairs, the better. He is suited for the job, and needed; not for the presidency.
Secretary of State Rice is incredible doing what she is doing, JMHO.
Just count your blessings that Bush and Condi are running things, not Perle and Kristol.
Why? I'd love Perle and Kristol rather than Bush/Condi.
Need leaders, not ankle biters.
Israel commandos battle Hizbollah
Reuters via Yahoo | 8-01-06 | Afif Diab
Posted on 08/01/2006 8:39:47 PM EDT by Pharmboy
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1676072/posts
I agree Robby. I was just replying to another poster.
Appeasement is never the answer. The culture there, in Syria, Iran, Lebanon, et. al. neither embraces it, or attempts to understand it. They play us in the West and our coddling MSM like a fidddle. Didn't 9/11 teach our people anything???
Bless Israel! I pray for you, and for us.
I don't think Kristol/Perle are "anklebiters." I'm not sure if they're leaders, but they have the right idea.
I do think Bush/Condi are what is commonly called "company men" or "empty suits"; I don't think they're leaders.
Just who conquered two counties in the heart of the muslim world?
ANd just who said the status quo in the ME cannot stand?
Just who has said that freedom and domocracy will change the ME just like it has for most of the rest of the world?
Just who said "Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them"? (Hint, not Perle or Kristol)
ANd finally, who is the world leader currently giving Israel the green light to crush Hezbollah?
Yeah, he's a real wallflower allright.
Not bad for a guy many people think is unable to string two coherent words together, right Mike?!
When you get right down to it, the Islamo-Arab-nuts (22 nations in all) have the entire Nation of Israel surrounded.
Not that it will do the Islamonuts any good.
Exactly... "A proportionate response."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.