http://www.ft.com/cms/s/54ebfee0-2245-11db...00779e2340.html
By Sharmila Devi in Jerusalem, Ferry Biederman in Tyre and William Wallis in Beirut
August 2 2006 - Financial Times
QUOTE
Hizbollah fired more rockets into Israel on Wednesday than on any previous day of the 22-day-old war, killing an Israeli and wounding 123, after helicopter-borne commandos launched Israel’s deepest raid into Lebanon.
Israeli sources said around 10,000 soldiers were now battling Hizbollah in southern Lebanon. The United Nations force in the area reported heavy exchanges of fire, with bombings in some areas and intensive shelling across the south.
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Dan Halutz, Israel’s chief of staff, said the army had dealt a devastating blow to Hizbollah. But the group fired more than 180 rockets across the border on Wednesday, one of them reaching the West Bank town of Jenin, some 70km into Israel.
The intensified fighting followed a daring but apparently fruitless raid overnight on Tuesday by Israeli commandos who landed deep inside Lebanon at the Hizbollah stronghold of Baalbak in an apparent attempt to capture a high level Hizbollah commander.
Israel said it had killed 10 and captured five Hizbollah fighters in the raid. Hizbollah denied this, saying the captured men were civilians. Residents told reporters who reached the town that 15 civilians were killed in the raid, including the family of the town’s mayor.
Israeli officials say the aim of their ground offensive is to reach the Litani river, some 30km from Lebanon’s southern border, and clear the area of Hizbollah guerrillas before any international force is deployed. Gen Halutz said the army was also considering renewing air strikes deep inside Lebanon, including into Beirut.
The propaganda war also intensified on Wednesday, with Israel interrupting Hizbollah’s al Manar television station with a 90-second spot warning Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader, that his day was coming and saying resistance was futile.
Politicians from across the country’s sectarian divisions are struggling to maintain a united response to international diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
However, religious leaders from the Shia, Sunni and Maronite Christian communities came together and called on the international community “to halt the aggression and lift the unjust blockade” following a meeting in the northern town of Bkirki. They also hailed the “resistance mainly by Hizbollah”.
In the south of the country, the exodus of civilians continued, with thousands fleeing the main port city of Tyre in anticipation of an Israeli assault. A UN spokesman said the fighting had flared up with “renewed intensity” after a relative lull earlier in the week.
Most of the Lebanese villages near the border with Israel are “basically deserted, with remaining inhabitants staying indoors”, said the spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Milos Strugar.
The Christian border village of Rmeish was the only remaining pocket with a substantial civilian presence. It also shelters a significant number of refugees from surrounding areas, where the fighting and shelling has been fierce in recent days.
Two aid convoys with food and other basic supplies were given Israeli security clearance to reach to some villages across the south.
But Robin Lodge, the World Food Programme’s director in Lebanon, said there were still many areas where aid agencies had no access, and they had been unable as yet to meet the growing needs of an estimated 800,000 Lebanese now displaced by the conflict.
Wednesday’s Hizbollah rocket attacks followed a two-day lull.
Israeli sources said around 10,000 soldiers were now battling Hizbollah in southern Lebanon. The United Nations force in the area reported heavy exchanges of fire, with bombings in some areas and intensive shelling across the south.
ADVERTISEMENT
Dan Halutz, Israel’s chief of staff, said the army had dealt a devastating blow to Hizbollah. But the group fired more than 180 rockets across the border on Wednesday, one of them reaching the West Bank town of Jenin, some 70km into Israel.
The intensified fighting followed a daring but apparently fruitless raid overnight on Tuesday by Israeli commandos who landed deep inside Lebanon at the Hizbollah stronghold of Baalbak in an apparent attempt to capture a high level Hizbollah commander.
Israel said it had killed 10 and captured five Hizbollah fighters in the raid. Hizbollah denied this, saying the captured men were civilians. Residents told reporters who reached the town that 15 civilians were killed in the raid, including the family of the town’s mayor.
Israeli officials say the aim of their ground offensive is to reach the Litani river, some 30km from Lebanon’s southern border, and clear the area of Hizbollah guerrillas before any international force is deployed. Gen Halutz said the army was also considering renewing air strikes deep inside Lebanon, including into Beirut.
The propaganda war also intensified on Wednesday, with Israel interrupting Hizbollah’s al Manar television station with a 90-second spot warning Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbollah’s leader, that his day was coming and saying resistance was futile.
Politicians from across the country’s sectarian divisions are struggling to maintain a united response to international diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis.
However, religious leaders from the Shia, Sunni and Maronite Christian communities came together and called on the international community “to halt the aggression and lift the unjust blockade” following a meeting in the northern town of Bkirki. They also hailed the “resistance mainly by Hizbollah”.
In the south of the country, the exodus of civilians continued, with thousands fleeing the main port city of Tyre in anticipation of an Israeli assault. A UN spokesman said the fighting had flared up with “renewed intensity” after a relative lull earlier in the week.
Most of the Lebanese villages near the border with Israel are “basically deserted, with remaining inhabitants staying indoors”, said the spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Milos Strugar.
The Christian border village of Rmeish was the only remaining pocket with a substantial civilian presence. It also shelters a significant number of refugees from surrounding areas, where the fighting and shelling has been fierce in recent days.
Two aid convoys with food and other basic supplies were given Israeli security clearance to reach to some villages across the south.
But Robin Lodge, the World Food Programme’s director in Lebanon, said there were still many areas where aid agencies had no access, and they had been unable as yet to meet the growing needs of an estimated 800,000 Lebanese now displaced by the conflict.
Wednesday’s Hizbollah rocket attacks followed a two-day lull.