Israel resumes bombardment of Beirut: reports

Australian Broadcasting Corporation ^ | 3 August 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

Israeli warplanes have resumed the bombardment of suspected Hezbollah positions in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Beirut, carrying out three strikes overnight, Lebanese police said.

It was the first such strikes on the battered city for several days, which has been heavily bombarded by Israel in a 23-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas.

At least three explosions rocked the city as aircraft circled overhead.

No details of casualties were immediately available but the southern parts of Beirut, considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, have been largely reduced to rubble after earlier heavy Israeli raids.

One Israeli has been killed as more than 200 rockets slammed into northern Israel, the biggest single-day barrage from Lebanon since the start of the offensive against Hezbollah three weeks ago.

Dozens were also wounded, two of them seriously, in the barrage, that saw at least 40 rockets strike populated areas, also causing severe damage to several buildings, the army and police said.

Israel wants some 15,000 foreign troops to be deployed in southern Lebanon to help end its fight with Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published on Thursday.

The conflict could be over as soon as the United Nations Security Council authorises such a force, he said.

Send 'real soldiers'

Laying out his vision for peace, Mr Olmert told The Times and, separately, The Financial Times, that the international force must be robust.

"It has to be made up of armies, not of retirees, of real soldiers, not of pensioners who have come to spend leisurely months in south Lebanon, but, rather, an army with combat units that is prepared to implement the UN resolution," the prime minister said in The Times.

"I think it has to have about 15,000 soldiers. I think that's more or less what the international community understands."

As for when the force should deploy, he said: "There should be overlap in terms of time so that we will pull out and they will come in without a time gap that will allow Hezbollah to rebuild their position in the south of Lebanon.

"Its as simple as that. We want a cease-fire and we don't want to occupy the south of Lebanon."

He estimated that the UN Security Council will pass a resolution on the Lebanon crisis within days that will pave the way for the deployment of the foreign troops.

In a veiled warning to Iran and Syria, which Israel accuses of backing Hezbollah, he said: "We responded in such a manner that it will be registered in the collective memory of not just the Lebanese, but any nation that has ever had any plans of attacking Israel with missiles.

"They know that we will respond and sometimes the response will be very, very, very painful."

Missile barrage

The 60-year-old was killed when a rocket slammed into a kibbutz near Nahariya, six kilometres south of the border.

One of the rockets hit near the city of Beit Shean, some 60 kilometres from the Lebanese border, the deepest strike into Israel since the start of the Lebanon conflict.

The Beit Shean strike marked the first time that a Hezbollah rocket had hit close to Israel's central region, the nation's most populated area.

Rockets also struck across the north of the country, including in the towns of Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Safed, Maalot, Carmiel and Acre.

The militia has fired more than 2,000 rockets at northern Israel since the start of the Lebanon offensive on July 12, killing 19 civilians.

Previously, the largest number of rockets fired on Israel from Lebanon in a single day was 156.

Nineteen civilians have been killed as a result of rocket fire in Israel since the start of the Lebanon offensive 22 days ago.

Thirty-six Israeli soldiers have also been killed in the fighting.

The barrage came after a two-day lull in the salvoes - just two rounds were fired on Monday and 13 on Tuesday.

That coincided with a 48-hour lull in air strikes agreed by Israel after its raid on the Lebanese village of Qana killed 52 civilians, most of them children.

One Israeli soldier was killed and four others were wounded during clashes with Hezbollah guerillas in the flashpoint village of Aita-ash Shaab in southern Lebanon, the Israeli army said.

The incident bring to 37 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the offensive in Lebanon.

[Aussie Dasher]

Hezbollah shouldn't have fired those rockets into Israel. Really bad move...

[JustaCowgirl]

It was the first such strikes on the battered city for several days, which has been heavily bombarded by Israel in a 23-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas.

Just enough time for the Hezzies to think it was safe to slither back into their dens?

[Graybeard58]

One Israeli has been killed as more than 200 rockets slammed into northern Israel

That is not a good return on capital.

What are they doing with those things, just lobbing them indiscriminately?

[Aussie Dasher]

From what I gather, yes. They're all over the shop!

[Thom Pain]

"Israel wants some 15,000 foreign troops to be deployed in southern Lebanon to help end its fight with Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in interviews published on Thursday."

Raise your hand if you believe that any "...10,000 foreign troops" will shoot, capture or otherwise deter Hezzies/Hamas.

I'm waiting...

[elhombrelibre]

Cause and effect. They asked for a fight and now they have one.

[RobbyS]

.... was the first such strikes on the battered city for several days, which has been heavily bombarded by Israel in a 23-day-old war against Hezbollah guerrillas. From other reports, I understand that this is misleading. One would think that the place had been carpet-bombed. Rather, most of the city is untouched by war damage.

[elhombrelibre]

Well said.

[Salem]

---

Zec 12:6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.





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[ncountylee]

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[mcshot]

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