Dozens die in fresh Lebanon raids

[Tulameen]

At least 55 civilians have been killed in Israeli air strikes in Lebanon.

The latest raids hit targets in the east and south of Lebanon, where at least 12 people died in one village.

Two Israeli soldiers died in clashes with Hezbollah militants in the south, after troops crossed the border to look for Hezbollah weapons and facilities.

Three people have been killed by rockets in the Israeli city of Nazareth, in the first attack on Israel's largest exclusively Arab city.

Twenty-eight Israelis have been killed - including 16 civilians killed by rocket attacks - since the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah militants began last Wednesday.

More than 280 Lebanese - mostly civilians - have been killed in the conflict.

Israel launched attacks on Lebanon after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

Many thousands of people continue to flee Lebanon, and several countries have sent ships and helicopters to move their nationals.

Heavy ground clashes

Israeli ground troops have continued to mount what they call "restricted pinpoint attacks" across the border in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli army said the clashes had been going on for hours, with heavy exchanges of fire.

An army spokesman told the Associated Press news agency there had been casualties on both sides.

The Israelis say they are fighting to end the control of Hezbollah over the lives of ordinary people on both sides of the border.

"We won't have a terrorist organisation deployed on our northern border and Hezbollah is the one that has destabilised the entire region," Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin told the BBC.

A senior Israeli army commander, Gen Alon Friedman, warned it could take weeks to reach a turning point in the combat.

The BBC's Paul Adams in Jerusalem, who has been talking to UN diplomats, says he understands Israel has no interest in diplomacy at this stage.

Exodus

Navy ships and chartered vessels have been shuttling back and forth between Cyprus and Lebanon to help evacuate foreign nationals.

FOREIGNERS IN LEBANON
Canada: 40,000
Philippines: 30,000
Australia: 25,000
US: 25,000
UK: 22,000 (inc. 10,000 with dual nationality)
France: 20,000

A British warship has dropped off 180 UK citizens in Cyprus, and is returning to Beirut to pick up more people.

A Norwegian ferry has taken hundreds of Norwegians, Swedes and Americans to Cyprus, while a US-chartered ship has left Beirut with US citizens.

Tens of thousands of people - including many Lebanese families - have fled across the border to Syria.

Relief agencies say there is a growing need for water, sanitation and medical facilities for more than 500,000 people displaced within Lebanon.

International diplomacy

Israeli air strikes have been taking place in the east and south of Lebanon.

Residents in the southern village of Srifa said at least 10 members of one family died, and reports suggest many more were killed in other houses.

At least six people died in the southern town of Nabatiyeh, while civilian deaths were also reported in other parts of the south and near Baalbek in the east.

Israeli planes also struck Beirut, with a Christian district coming under fire for the first time, as well as more Hezbollah rocket attacks on the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

No deaths were reported in either incident.

Diplomatic efforts are continuing. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Afterwards Mr Solana condemned the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah and called for a ceasefire.

A UN team that has been in the region over the past few days is preparing to fly back to New York to brief Secretary General Kofi Annan, who is due to address the Security Council on Thursday.

Israel also conducted separate operations in Palestinian areas.

At least nine Palestinians have been killed in fresh Israeli operations in Gaza and the West Bank.

Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5193662.stm

Published: 2006/07/19 15:20:11 GMT

© BBC MMVI

[Tulameen]

Rockets kill two in Nazareth, Israel says

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israeli soldiers battled with Hezbollah militants inside Lebanon Wednesday in the latest incursion since violence broke out a week ago.

Lebanon said Wednesday that 212 people have been killed and 498 injured since Israel launched attacks across the country after two of its soldiers were captured by guerrillas inside Israel on July 12.

Barrages of Hezbollah rockets were fired into northern Israel, one strike killing two Israeli civilians in Nazareth on Wednesday afternoon, Israel Defense Forces said.

The strike represents the southernmost point where Israeli casualties have been reported thus far.

Nazareth is mostly populated by Muslims and Christians, and is revered by Christians as the childhood home of Jesus Christ.

With the deaths, 27 Israelis -- including 15 civilians -- have been killed in the weeklong fighting, according to the IDF.

Other cities hit Wednesday were Haifa, Tiberias, Acre, Shlomi and Carmiel. A house in Carmiel and another in Tiberias were hit, according to Israeli medical emergency sources and the military, but no one was hurt there, medical sources said. (See map of the area)

Most residents are staying in bomb shelters or have left the region.

Earlier, Israel sent troops across the border to "surgically" attack Hezbollah targets, officials said. (Watch a soldier describe his orders to 'dismantle, attack, destroy' -- 1:25)

Ground forces in northern Israel backed the incursion with howitzers, able to fire up to 17 miles (28 kilometers) inside Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed its ground troops launched what it described as a pinpoint operation inside southern Lebanon, but the IDF did not say where the incursion took place.

"Their mission is to destroy Hezbollah outposts," an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told CNN early Wednesday.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Hezbollah was the biggest obstacle to Lebanese sovereignty and Israel's end game was to disband and disarm it.

Regev said Israel will not initiate conflict with Syria or Iran -- the financial and military backers of Hezbollah -- unless they attack Israel.

"I can tell you unequivocally we have no intention of widening this conflict ... The idea is to come out of this conflict ... with the disarmament of Hezbollah," he said.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman stressed the latest operation was "in no way an invasion of Lebanon."

For days a "small group" of Israeli troops has been traveling into Lebanon near the border fence, the IDF said. The goal is to pinpoint Hezbollah infrastructure such as mines and tunnels.

Throughout the night, a CNN team in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Israeli border, heard explosions, drones and helicopters.

An IDF spokesman declined to say whether the helicopter movements there were linked to the ground operation.
'The most dangerous place'

Israeli airstrikes also pounded Beirut's southern suburbs near the main airport, triggering explosions that lit up the night.

The United States and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization. The group, which has claimed responsibility for terrorist acts, also operates an extensive network of social services in Lebanon. In addition, Hezbollah holds 14 seats in the 128-member Lebanese Parliament, according to the Parliament's Web site.

Hezbollah officials gave CNN access into the southern suburbs of Beirut -- the area thought to house the organization's headquarters -- to show the damage inflicted on civilians there.

They also wanted to show they do not house military stockpiles there, CNN's Nic Robertson reported, but he could not confirm what, if anything, was being stored.

"You never know when Israeli jet fighters come and hit any target in this area," Hussein Nabulsi, Hezbollah press officer, told CNN on the tour.

"It is very, very dangerous. We are now at the most dangerous place at the most dangerous moment." (Watch attack fears force a CNN crew from ruined Beirut neighborhood -- 4:46)

Pausing before an apartment building, Nabulsi said, "Look what happened to this building, inhabited by innocent civilians ... no military bases, nothing."

He said he was surprised that the United Nations and international community had not expressed outrage at the damage inflicted on the Lebanese. "Where is the international community? Where is the Security Council? Where's the United Nations? Where's the whole world? We are under fire."
Support for Hezbollah

A poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah dominates the view heading in to the port city of Tyre. A billboard adorned with Hezbollah militia fighters says, "We stay and fight."

Many in this Lebanese city support the militant group. Mohammed Swyel, 18, said he and his family evacuated their home near the Israeli border to allow Hezbollah rocket teams more space to maneuver and fire into Israel.

"Everybody in Lebanon needs Hezbollah," he said. "Of course, we need peace for this country but not over our dignity. Our dignity is first."

The continuing violence is raising fears that others in the region would join the conflict. (Watch why and how Syrians are backing folks labeled as terrorists -- 2:30)
In other developments:

* The evacuation of Westerners from Lebanon picked up steam Wednesday as foreign governments moved to get their citizens to safety by land, sea and air. (Full story)

* Israeli troops moved into central Gaza on its second military front and fierce clashes erupted there, according to Palestinian security sources. Israel says the military operation is necessary to recover a captured soldier and stop attacks on Israel.

CNN's Matthew Chance, Nic Robertson, Elise Labott and Karl Penhaul contributed to this report.

Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.



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