Israeli Strike Kills 11 Lebanese Soldiers
Israeli strike kills 11 Lebanese soldiers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060718/...azkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
(Gold9472: The phrase, "point of no return" comes to mind.)
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writers
22 minutes ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel struck a Lebanese army base outside Beirut and flattened a house near the border, killing at least 16 people in a new wave of bombings, while Hezbollah fired more rockets at northern Israel, killing one Israeli and wounding several others.
Meanwhile, diplomats stepped up efforts to end the conflict, which has sent foreigners fleeing by land, sea and air.
A cruise ship, the Orient Queen, was due to begin evacuating some of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon on Tuesday, and the Pentagon said a U.S. Naval destroyer was available to escort it. U.S. military helicopters have already ferried about a score of U.S. citizens to a British base on the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus. More helicopter transfers were planned, a U.S. official said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel will press on with the weeklong offensive until its captured soldiers are released and its citizens are safe from attacks.
"Israel will continue to combat Hezbollah and will continue to strike targets of the group," Olmert said in a statement.
The base in the southern area of Kfar Chima took a direct hit as the soldiers rushed to their bomb shelters, leaving at least 11 soldiers dead and 35 wounded, the Lebanese military said.
The Lebanese army has largely stayed out of the fighting, but its positions have been repeatedly attacked by Israeli warplanes, undermining Israel's call for it to help push back Hezbollah from the border.
At least five people also were killed when a bomb hit a house in the village of Aitaroun, near the border with Israel, witnesses said. Israeli warplanes also fired four missiles on the eastern city of Baalbek, wounding four, and southern Beirut — both Hezbollah strongholds, according to witnesses and news reports. Another attack targeted the southern town of Qana, Lebanese TV reported.
Hezbollah's latest barrage of rockets fired at northern Israel killed one person in the town of Nahariya, Israeli officials said. Rockets also hit the northern city of Haifa.
Eli Dayari, a witness interviewed by Israel's Channel 10 television, said the rocket hit a two-story building and an apartment there was on fire.
"I was near the bomb shelter, there was a humongous boom, and I saw it was two meters next to my house, really two meters," he said. "People are panicking and the house was on fire, really big flames, the fire fighters are here."
Tuesday's deaths raised the toll from seven days of fighting to at least 227 people killed in Lebanon and 25 in Israel.
Israel was allowing evacuation ships through its blockade of the country. France and Italy moved hundreds of nationals and other Europeans out Monday on a Greek cruise liner. An Italian ship left earlier with 350 people and other governments were organizing pullouts by land to Syria.
India also has evacuated 49 of its citizens from embattled Beirut and stationed four naval vessels off the Lebanese coast to assist in future evacuations, officials said Tuesday.
Diplomatic efforts gained traction, with Israel signaling it might scale back its demands. Olmert said Monday that the two Israeli soldiers had to be released and Hezbollah must pull back from the border for fighting to halt.
An aide to Olmert indicated, however, that the prime minister was ready to compromise on the question of dismantling the Islamic militant group. But the aide said Olmert might oppose a U.N. and British idea of deploying international forces to Lebanon.
The current U.N. force in southern Lebanon has proven impotent and a larger, stronger force could hamper any future Israeli attacks, should any deal fall apart.
An Israeli Cabinet minister, Avi Dichter, meanwhile, said Tuesday that Israel may consider a prisoner swap with Lebanon to win the release of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah, but only after its military operation is complete.
"If one of the ways to bring home the soldiers will be negotiations on the possibility of releasing Lebanese prisoners I think the day will come when we will also have to consider this," the public security minister told Israel's Army Radio.
The crisis began on June 25, when Hamas-linked militants in the Gaza Strip carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost in Israel, killing two soldiers and capturing one. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas joined the fray in July, attacking a military patrol on the border in northern Israel, killing three soldiers and capturing two. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have said the two attacks were not related.
Dichter also said efforts to gain the release of the soldier being held by Hamas-linked militants in Gaza and the two being held by Hezbollah were not connected to one another.
Delivering an impassioned speech to Israel's parliament on Monday, Olmert said the country would have no mercy on Lebanese militants who attack its cities with rockets.
"We shall seek out every installation, hit every terrorist helping to attack Israeli citizens, destroy all the terrorist infrastructure, in every place. We shall continue this until Hezbollah does the basic and fair things required of it by every civilized person," he said.
