 |
 |
 |
|
|
A firefighter puts out a blaze in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona caused by one of the 18 rockets that hit the city Thursday. (AP)
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Associated Press July 28, 2006 |
|
| |
As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced plans to return to the Middle East, Israeli warplanes pounded 130 targets in Lebanon on Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley where long-range rockets were stored, killing at least three people and wounding nine, officials said.
Meanwhile, U.S. and British officials stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the crisis.
Rice, who was attending a regional security conference in Malaysia on Friday, said she'll be back in the region following a trip to Lebanon and Israel earlier in the week, presumably to lay the groundwork for what she has called an "enduring" cease-fire.
Israeli media reported that she will land in Israel on Saturday night and meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday.
During a meeting in Rome on Wednesday, Rice faced strong demand from European governments for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon. But she won extra time for Israel's military campaign against Hezbollah, arguing for a cease-fire that would end Hezbollah's control of southern Lebanon and diminish the influence of Syria and Iran in Lebanon's affairs.
U.S. President George W. Bush has suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it would take to cripple Hezbollah. He also sharply condemned Iran for supporting the guerrillas.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed to Washington on Friday for a summit with Bush, and Blair's spokesman said the prime minister would seek a U.N. resolution aimed at solving the Mideast crisis.
Blair wants to step up the pace of diplomacy aimed at a cease-fire and the formation of a beefed up international force that would help control south Lebanon. Hezbollah guerrillas have long been in control of southern Lebanon, in violation of a previous U.N. resolution.
In Lebanon, Israel's 17-day-old offensive continued, mostly limited to attacks by its air force.
Missiles fired by Israeli jets destroyed three buildings in the village of Kfar Jouz near the market town of Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon, and three people were killed and nine wounded, including four children, Lebanese security officials said. The raid apparently targeted an apartment belonging to a Hezbollah activist.
Civil defense teams were struggling in the village to rescue some people believed to be trapped or buried under the rubble of one of the buildings, a three-story structure, witnesses said.
Israeli artillery also used more than 40 shells to pound the border village of Arnoun just outside Nabatiyeh, next to the strategic Crusader's Beaufort Castle, which has a commanding view of the border area, witnesses said.
In addition, Israeli jets used bombs and missiles to hit roads in southeastern Lebanon and suspected Hezbollah hideouts in hills and mountainous areas, security officials said.
Israeli defense forces said its aircraft hit a total of 130 targets in Lebanon on Thursday and early Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored and 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile launching sites and six communication facilities.
At least 440 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting broke out between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, most of them Lebanese civilians, according to security officials. But Lebanon's health minister estimated Thursday that as many as Lebanese 600 civilians have been killed so far in the offensive.
Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting and 19 civilians were killed in Hezbollah's unyielding rocket attacks on Israel's northern towns, the army said.
The army said Friday that Israeli troops have killed about 200 Hezbollah guerrillas since fighting began more than two weeks ago. Hezbollah has reported far fewer casualties.
Israel launched its offensive in Lebanon on July 12, after Hezbollah guerrillas overran the border, killed three Israeli soldiers on patrol and captured two others.
Earlier, Israeli forces opened an offensive in the Gaza Strip on June 28, three days after Hamas militants attacked Israeli army post in southern Israeli, killing two soldiers and capturing 19-year-old Cpl. Gilad Shalit.
Hezbollah and Hamas have both demanded the release of Hezbollah and Palestinian prisoners in return for freedom for the three Israeli captives, but Israel's government has said no. The conflict has taken on broad dimensions, with Israel saying it must neutralize the Islamic militants in order to preserve its long-term deterrent posture.
Israel decided on Thursday not to expand its ground battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon for now, but the Cabinet authorized the army to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers in case the fighting intensified.
The events signaled that Israel and the United States were settling in for a much longer battle than had initially been expected, one that could grow far bloodier if Israel decides its air attacks and small-scale invasion into Lebanon are not working and sends in thousands of more ground forces.
Justice Minister Haim Ramon said that world leaders' failure to call for an immediate cease-fire during a Rome summit gave Israel a green light to carry on with its campaign to crush Hezbollah -- an assertion rejected by European leaders and U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli, who called it "outrageous."
Fierce ground battles that raged Wednesday through the Lebanese border villages of Bint Jbail and Maroun al-Ras appeared to have abated, with U.N. observers reporting only "sporadic fighting" there Thursday.
Early Friday, Israeli ground forces were fighting guerrillas in Bint Jbail, but no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, the guerrillas continued to launch rockets into northern Israel on Friday, with 14 fired at the towns that included Ma'alot, Karmiel and Safed, the army said. No casualties were reported.
Israeli forces also stepped up their defense.
On Thursday, the military installed a Patriot interceptor missile battery north of Tel Aviv, saying it believes the area could be in range of missiles that Hezbollah has obtained from Syria, the army said. The Patriot system can intercept long-range missiles fired at Israel but not the short-range Katyusha rockets, hundreds of which have been fired by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon.
|
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
