Israel strikes Beirut suburb, tightens blockade
By Lin Noueihed
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli jets struck Hizbollah's southern Beirut stronghold on Friday hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a more intense retaliation against the Lebanese guerrilla group's capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Israel bombed bridges and roads in the Shi'ite Muslim suburb and a fuel storage facility at the Jiyyeh power plant outside the city, shortly after a series of Israeli raids forced the closure of a highway linking Beirut to Damascus.
srael's decision to ramp up the attacks came at a meeting of security chiefs after a day in which Israel blockaded Lebanese ports, struck Beirut airport and two military airbases, and attacked bridges and houses in the south as well as a bridge leading to the country's only international airport.
The attacks virtually isolated Lebanon by air, sea and land.
"The decision was made to intensify Israel's operations in Lebanon," Army Radio quoted political sources as saying.
Israeli air strikes and shelling have already killed at least 55 Lebanese civilians since the two soldiers were captured in a cross-border raid on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in the latest strikes, which shook Beirut residents from their beds, but television footage showed residents helping others wounded by debris. Fire fighters fought in vain to get a raging blaze at the Jiyyeh plant under control.
Barrages of Hizbollah rocket fire into northern Israel have killed two Israeli civilians and wounded 95.
Two of the missiles hit the port of Haifa on Thursday in an attack Israel blamed on Hizbollah and described as a "major escalation", since Haifa lies over 30 km (18 miles) from the Lebanese border. Hizbollah denied it fired on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, and no one was injured in the attack.
In total, Israel said Hizbollah fired more than 120 rockets at towns and villages in the north on Thursday, causing panic.
HOARDED SUPPLIES
Food and drink flew off shop shelves in Lebanon as families fearing tougher days ahead hoarded supplies. Beirut restaurants and shops remained mainly closed and tourists fled, while fears of an escalation shook Lebanese and Israeli financial markets.
Planes had dropped leaflets in Beirut suburbs and some southern cities urging residents to stay away from Hizbollah offices, witnesses said, a move that raised the possibility that Hizbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, could be targeted.
Flames and smoke could be seen rising from the southern suburb of Beirut, where Hizbollah is headquartered, but it did not appear that the group's major facilities were hit.
The military offensive coincided with a major Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip to retrieve another captured soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a vehicle in Gaza on Friday, killing a Palestinian, Palestinian medics said.
The threat of a similar Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon to prevent the rocket fire gained currency after the Haifa strikes, although the military remained tight-lipped.
The violence is the fiercest since 1996, when Israeli troops still occupied southern Lebanon, and fears are rising it could spread to Syria, which backs Hizbollah along with its ally Iran.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Israel not to attack Syria, saying such action would be considered an assault on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.
BUSH VOICES CONCERN
U.S. President George W. Bush, on a visit to Germany, voiced concern about the fate of Lebanon's anti-Syrian government, but offered no direct criticism of the punishment Israel meted out.
"Israel has the right to defend herself," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also speaking in Germany, urged Israel to exercise restraint but demanded that Syria put pressure on Hizbollah to stop the attacks on Israel.
Syria's ambassador to the United States urged Washington to restrain its ally Israel and push for the resumption of peace talks amid escalating Middle East violence.
The European Union and Russia criticised Israel's strikes in Lebanon as a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict.
Lebanon urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to adopt a resolution demanding a cease-fire and end to Israeli attacks, rejecting Israel's insistence it was acting in self defense.
The Security Council was to meet later on Friday but the United States has already vetoed a council resolution put forward by Qatar on behalf of Arab states that called on Israel to immediately end its military incursion in Gaza.
With stocks down, currency pressure up and trade and tourism virtually still, ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned that it might downgrade Lebanon's debt ratings amid escalating violence.
Israel has rejected Hizbollah demands that it release Arab prisoners in exchange for the captive soldiers but says it fears they could be spirited to Iran. Iran dismissed such fears.
(Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki, Alaa Shahine and Laila Bassam, and
Jerusalem bureau)
Fire rises from fuel tanks at Beirut international airport after being attacked by Israeli aircrafts July 13, 2006. Israeli jets struck Hizbollah's southern Beirut stronghold on Friday hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a more intense retaliation against the Lebanese guerrilla group's capture of two Israeli soldiers. (REUTERS/Adnan Hajj)
Copyright © 2005 Reuters
http://thestar.com.my/news/nastory....01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-259459-5&sec=Worldupdates
By Lin Noueihed
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli jets struck Hizbollah's southern Beirut stronghold on Friday hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a more intense retaliation against the Lebanese guerrilla group's capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Israel bombed bridges and roads in the Shi'ite Muslim suburb and a fuel storage facility at the Jiyyeh power plant outside the city, shortly after a series of Israeli raids forced the closure of a highway linking Beirut to Damascus.
srael's decision to ramp up the attacks came at a meeting of security chiefs after a day in which Israel blockaded Lebanese ports, struck Beirut airport and two military airbases, and attacked bridges and houses in the south as well as a bridge leading to the country's only international airport.
The attacks virtually isolated Lebanon by air, sea and land.
"The decision was made to intensify Israel's operations in Lebanon," Army Radio quoted political sources as saying.
Israeli air strikes and shelling have already killed at least 55 Lebanese civilians since the two soldiers were captured in a cross-border raid on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if anyone was killed in the latest strikes, which shook Beirut residents from their beds, but television footage showed residents helping others wounded by debris. Fire fighters fought in vain to get a raging blaze at the Jiyyeh plant under control.
Barrages of Hizbollah rocket fire into northern Israel have killed two Israeli civilians and wounded 95.
Two of the missiles hit the port of Haifa on Thursday in an attack Israel blamed on Hizbollah and described as a "major escalation", since Haifa lies over 30 km (18 miles) from the Lebanese border. Hizbollah denied it fired on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, and no one was injured in the attack.
In total, Israel said Hizbollah fired more than 120 rockets at towns and villages in the north on Thursday, causing panic.
HOARDED SUPPLIES
Food and drink flew off shop shelves in Lebanon as families fearing tougher days ahead hoarded supplies. Beirut restaurants and shops remained mainly closed and tourists fled, while fears of an escalation shook Lebanese and Israeli financial markets.
Planes had dropped leaflets in Beirut suburbs and some southern cities urging residents to stay away from Hizbollah offices, witnesses said, a move that raised the possibility that Hizbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, could be targeted.
Flames and smoke could be seen rising from the southern suburb of Beirut, where Hizbollah is headquartered, but it did not appear that the group's major facilities were hit.
The military offensive coincided with a major Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip to retrieve another captured soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a vehicle in Gaza on Friday, killing a Palestinian, Palestinian medics said.
The threat of a similar Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon to prevent the rocket fire gained currency after the Haifa strikes, although the military remained tight-lipped.
The violence is the fiercest since 1996, when Israeli troops still occupied southern Lebanon, and fears are rising it could spread to Syria, which backs Hizbollah along with its ally Iran.
In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Israel not to attack Syria, saying such action would be considered an assault on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.
BUSH VOICES CONCERN
U.S. President George W. Bush, on a visit to Germany, voiced concern about the fate of Lebanon's anti-Syrian government, but offered no direct criticism of the punishment Israel meted out.
"Israel has the right to defend herself," he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, also speaking in Germany, urged Israel to exercise restraint but demanded that Syria put pressure on Hizbollah to stop the attacks on Israel.
Syria's ambassador to the United States urged Washington to restrain its ally Israel and push for the resumption of peace talks amid escalating Middle East violence.
The European Union and Russia criticised Israel's strikes in Lebanon as a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict.
Lebanon urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to adopt a resolution demanding a cease-fire and end to Israeli attacks, rejecting Israel's insistence it was acting in self defense.
The Security Council was to meet later on Friday but the United States has already vetoed a council resolution put forward by Qatar on behalf of Arab states that called on Israel to immediately end its military incursion in Gaza.
With stocks down, currency pressure up and trade and tourism virtually still, ratings agency Standard & Poor's warned that it might downgrade Lebanon's debt ratings amid escalating violence.
Israel has rejected Hizbollah demands that it release Arab prisoners in exchange for the captive soldiers but says it fears they could be spirited to Iran. Iran dismissed such fears.
(Additional reporting by Nadim Ladki, Alaa Shahine and Laila Bassam, and
Jerusalem bureau)
Fire rises from fuel tanks at Beirut international airport after being attacked by Israeli aircrafts July 13, 2006. Israeli jets struck Hizbollah's southern Beirut stronghold on Friday hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a more intense retaliation against the Lebanese guerrilla group's capture of two Israeli soldiers. (REUTERS/Adnan Hajj)
Copyright © 2005 Reuters
http://thestar.com.my/news/nastory....01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-259459-5&sec=Worldupdates
