|
9 Israelis dead in rocket attack
|
Pastor Dale Morgan
|
Jul 16, 2006 01:20 PDT
|
*Perilous Times*
Sunday July 16, 3:27 PM
*Nine dead in Hezbollah rocket attack in Israel*
Nine people were killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike against Israel's
third largest city of Haifa on Sunday, an attack likely to trigger a
sharp escalation in the deadly Israel-Lebanon conflict.
The attack came after Israeli war planes went into action over Lebanon
again before dawn on the fifth day of an intensifying assault that has
killed scores of people and left the country almost completely cut off
from the outside world.
Israeli medical sources said nine people were killed and dozens wounded
in the attack on the northern port city of Haifa, where Hezbollah
fighters claimed they had hit an oil refinery.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called Saturday for an immediate
UN-sponsored ceasefire and an end to Israel's "collective punishment" in
an emotionally charged address to the nation.
Governments across the globe were drawing up emergency plans to evacuate
their nationals but world powers appeared sharply divided on how to end
the spiralling conflict and avoid an all-out regional war.
At least 38 civilians were killed in a relentless wave of air raids
across Lebanon on Saturday that blitzed the Beirut headquarters of the
Hezbollah guerrilla leader Hassan Nasrallah but also struck ports up and
down the Mediterranean coast and convoys of villagers fleeing the assault.
Early Sunday, Israeli air strikes hit Hezbollah's television station in
Beirut's southern suburbs and other targets across southern Lebanon.
Siniora declared Lebanon a "disaster zone" and appealed for urgent
international help for a country that was slowly rebuilding after a
devasating 15-year civil war and the end of a three-decade Syrian
military presence.
"As we were preparing for a new start in our reform and revival process,
here we are again under the firing line of the Israeli raids which
murder civilians, cut the links of the country, strike vital
infrastructure and violate the sovereignty of the Lebanese state," he said.
"This murderous machine is killing, destroying and displacing
(civilians)," he said.
Israel says the aim of its operation is to destroy the Shiite Muslim
Hezbollah militia, whose capture of two soldiers and the killing of
eight in border attacks Wednesday triggered the offensive.
Northern Israel has come under a barrage of rocket fire from across the
border in Lebanon that has now killed a total of 13 people and wounded
dozens more, leaving streets deserted as residents flee into bomb shelters.
Israel had announced Saturday the deployment of a battery of
anti-missile Patriot missiles in Haifa after a rocket attack there
Thursday, the first time guerrrillas had managed to penetrate so far south.
US President George W. Bush said at the Group of Eight summit in Russia
on Sunday that Israel had "every right to defend itself" against attack
from militants backed by Iran and Syria but must be "mindful of the
consequences."
Israeli television reported that Nasrallah, who defiantly declared "open
war" against the Jewish state after an attack on his Beirut stronghold,
had been injured.
But a Hezbollah official categorically denied the report, saying: "This
is mere Israel propaganda."
On Saturday 18 civilians, including nine children, were burnt alive when
an Israeli helicopter gunship hit a convoy of families fleeing an
offensive in southern Lebanon, an area that has borne the brunt of attacks.
The Israeli military expressed regret over the civilian casualties but
said it targeted an area used as a missile launch ground by Hezbollah
who must take responsibility for "endangering the civilian population."
At least 100 people have died over the five-day offensive that has put
Lebanon under an air and sea blockade, with wave after wave of air
strikes that have shut the international airport, destroyed bridges and
roads.
The Israeli military also confirmed Sunday that special forces were
operating on the ground in Lebanon in conjunction with air and sea forces.
"Most of our operations are led by aircraft, and our navy is also in
action, but units are also waging ground operations, about which
obviously I will refuse to give details," said General Gadi Eisenkraut,
operations chief at central command.
With missiles also slamming into no-man's land between Lebanon and
Syria, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov warned that there was a
"real threat" that the fiercest conflict between the two neighbours in a
decade could engulf other nations.
Splits have emerged within the international community, with some UN
Security Council members rebuking Israel for "disproportionate" use of
force but the United States insisting the Hezbollah stop its rocket attacks.
Arab League chief Amr Mussa declared the Middle East peace process
"dead" after an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers.
Israel's onslaught was unleashed after Hezbollah guerrillas snatched two
soldiers Wednesday, opening up a new battleground following a similar
deadly offensive against Gaza over the capture of another soldier by
Palestinian militants three weeks ago.
Foreign governments were drawing up plans for the evacuation of their
nationals from Lebanon, either by land to Syria or by ferry to the
Mediterranean island of Cyprus.
Air travel from Beirut was made impossible after the international
airport was shut down Thursday after Israeli air strikes gouged large
craters in the runways.
Beirut residents were stocking up on basic goods and making plans to
flee to the relative safety of the mountains outside the capital.
In another unprecedented action Saturday, an Israeli fighter bomber
fired four missiles beyond Masnaa, the main crossing point between
Lebanon and Syria, Lebanese police said.
Damascus denied its territory had been hit and Israel said Syria was
"not an objective of our operation."
Israel recovered the body of one of four sailors missing after what it
said was an attack by an Iranian-made rocket on a ship patrolling off
Lebanon on Friday, bringing to nine the number of servicemen killed.
Israel also pressed on with its assault on Gaza, killing four more
Palestinians in air raids and a ground incursion on Sunday. At least 82
Palestinians and one Israel have been killed in that offensive.
Both Hezbollah and Palestinian militants holding the soldiers are
demanding the release of prisoners from Israeli jails -- something
Israel has rejected outright.
|
|
 |
|
