- Aug 23, 2003
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Anandtech Moderator
By AHMED MANTASH, Associated Press Writer
GHAZIYEH, Lebanon - Mourners in a funeral procession for Israeli airstrike victims scattered in panic Tuesday as warplanes again unleashed missiles that hit buildings and killed 13 people, witnesses and officials said.
The first missile struck a building about five minutes after the march by about 1,500 people had passed by, killing one person and wounding five.
The blast was close enough to send mourners screaming, "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some broke away from the procession, while others continued on.
They were burying some of the 15 people killed in Ghaziyeh on Monday, when Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings in the Shiite town southeast of the port city of Sidon.
About 30 minutes after Tuesday's first airstrike, Israeli warplanes staged four more bombing runs, destroying two buildings, said Mayor Mohammed Ghaddar.
Twelve more people were killed and 18 wounded in those strikes, according to tally from three area hospitals.
Witnesses said one of the destroyed houses belonged to Sheik Mustafa Khalifeh, a cleric linked to Hezbollah, but it was unclear if he was among the casualties. Most Hezbollah officials have left their homes and offices since the offensive began nearly a month ago.
Ghaziyeh has been targeted several times, but the attacks Monday and Tuesday were the heaviest. The town was overflowing with displaced people, who have swelled its population to 23,000.
Meanwhile, diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal. And military planners in Jerusalem said they will push even deeper into Lebanon to target rocket sites.
Israel declared a no-drive zone in the entire region south of Lebanon's Litani River ? 20 miles from the border ? warning residents that any vehicle on the roads would be destroyed on the assumption it was carrying Hezbollah rockets or supplies. The order left the streets of the region's main city Tyre empty and civilians in villages across the south unable to flee.
Attempts to draw a cease-fire blueprint came down to a test between a step-by-step proposal backed by Washington and Lebanon's insistence ? supported by Arab allies ? that nothing can happen before Israeli soldiers leave. In New York, Arab envoys and
U.N. Security Council members tried to hammer out a compromise.
Lebanon put its offers on the table: pledging up to 15,000 troops to a possible peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and saying Hezbollah's days of running a state within a state would end. The military plan had added significance since it was backed by the two Hezbollah members on Lebanon's Cabinet ? apparently showing a willingness for a lasting pact by the Islamic militants and their main sponsors, Iran and Syria.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Tuesday praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" over the war-weary country.
"There will be no authority, no one in command, no weapons other than those of the Lebanese state," he said on Al-Arabiya television.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the proposed Lebanese troop deployment "interesting" and said Israel would favor pulling out once it decides Hezbollah is no longer a direct threat.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Lebanese forces "would need to be supported by international forces." He added: "It certainly is a significant proposal."
In the rocky hills of southern Lebanon, ground fighting continued in attempts to control key villages and territory near the border, including sites used for Hezbollah rocket barrages that have reached deep into Israel in the heaviest Arab-Israeli battles in 24 years.
At least 145 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel by midafternoon.
Israeli artillery and airstrikes pounded a broad swath of southern Lebanon from the Mediterranean coast to inland valleys ? including many areas in the Hezbollah heartland now under a blanket curfew imposed by Israel to try to choke off arms routes.
Earlier, rescuers said they retrieved one body after an airstrike in Rzoum, northeast of Tyre.
Some of the fiercest skirmishes broke out around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israeli has tried to capture for weeks. An Israeli solider and 25 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed, the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah TV also reported pre-dawn attacks on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean town of Naqoura, about 2 1/2 miles north of the border. The Israeli military said two reserve soldiers were killed in the area.
The latest casualties brought the number of people killed in Lebanon to at least 684, while the Israeli death toll was 100.
In a southern suburb of Beirut, workers pulled 20 bodies from the rubble of two buildings hit by a rocket on Monday ? raising the death toll from that strike to 30. That attack came just hours after Arab League foreign ministers wrapped up a crisis meeting that threw their full diplomatic weight behind Lebanon.
It set the baseline demand for the Security Council: a full Israeli withdrawal or no peace deal is possible. The message was given in an emotional address by Saniora and carried to the U.N. by Arab League envoys.
Saniora's government voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw.
The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, where Hezbollah rules with near autonomy bolstered by channels of aid and weapons from Iran and Syria. Lebanon has avoided any attempt to implement a two-year-old U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, fearing it could touch off civil unrest.
The coming days should offer signs on whether a cease-fire plan has a chance.
The original proposal, drafted by the United States and France, demanded a "full cessation of hostilities" on both sides and a buffer zone patrolled by Lebanese forces and U.N. troops. But the plan did not specifically call for an Israeli withdrawal. Critics said it would give room for Israeli defensive operations.
French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere promised to take Lebanon's stance into account. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.
French President Jacques Chirac will interrupt his vacation to hold urgent talks Wednesday with his prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister, his office said.
Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the 15-nation Security Council, and other members, diplomats said. A vote is not expected before Wednesday.
The proposed changes include a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. peacekeepers. Arab states also want U.N. forces to take control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in 1967. Saniora asked for Israel to provide a full map of all land mines in southern Lebanon.
Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani warned of "a civil war in Lebanon" between Hezbollah and government forces if the Security Council does not make changes to the U.S.-French draft resolution. "Lebanon won't bear it," he told Al-Jazeera.
Saniora urged Israel to consider "a different logic" of compromise. Otherwise, he said, the region can never escape violence.
"Blood draws more blood and hatred breeds more hatred," he told Al-Arabiya.
He also took a jab at Hezbollah's sponsor Syria, which ended a nearly three-decade military presence in Lebanon last year.
"Syria should get used to the fact that Lebanon is an independent state," he said, without mentioning Hezbollah's other patron, Iran.
Israel sent mixed signals. The government said it was studying Lebanon's pledge to contribute troops to a potential peacekeeping force. But Defense Minister Amir Peretz outlined plans to drive deeper into Lebanon to try to destroy Hezbollah rocket batteries, which have fired more than 3,000 into northern Israel.
A senior government official offered to pay to move up to 17,000 Israelis living in border towns.
Peretz said a new push ? expected to be approved Wednesday by Israel's Security Cabinet ? would extend as far as the Litani River.
The Israeli army said it declared an indefinite curfew on the movement of vehicles south of the Litani. Humanitarian traffic would be allowed, but other vehicles would be at risk if they ignored the order, the army said.
In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council said it plans to convene a special session this week to consider taking action against Israel for its Lebanon offensive.
Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Jerusalem and Lauren Frayer in Beirut contributed to this report.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The story about the U.N. stopping humanitarian aid can be found here. I just didn't want to overwhelm some of you guys with too much reading material at once; it usually makes your brains shut down.
"No vehicle traffic" imposed by Israel and heavy bombing mean that humantarian supplies in Southern Lebanon are dangerously low, and civilians won't be allowed to escape the region. So much for the oh-so-tired "human shield" argument that seems to be the answer for all Israeli acts of terror over the last month.
You guys think bombing empty Hezbollah official's offices is going to make a dent in their leadership? Hate to tell you this, but they're long gone out of the conflict area, well into Northern Lebanon or Syria is my guess. The Hezbollah guerrillas are definitely still in the conflict area, but they can and likely will be replaced with this much civilian blood being spilled.
Overall, a highly successful campaign for Israel. :roll: And the U.S. is spearheading the effort to cut them short.
It was definitely a nice touch for Israel to send the funeral procession scattering with their bombs. How classy is that?
Anandtech Moderator
By AHMED MANTASH, Associated Press Writer
GHAZIYEH, Lebanon - Mourners in a funeral procession for Israeli airstrike victims scattered in panic Tuesday as warplanes again unleashed missiles that hit buildings and killed 13 people, witnesses and officials said.
The first missile struck a building about five minutes after the march by about 1,500 people had passed by, killing one person and wounding five.
The blast was close enough to send mourners screaming, "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great!" Some broke away from the procession, while others continued on.
They were burying some of the 15 people killed in Ghaziyeh on Monday, when Israeli airstrikes flattened three buildings in the Shiite town southeast of the port city of Sidon.
About 30 minutes after Tuesday's first airstrike, Israeli warplanes staged four more bombing runs, destroying two buildings, said Mayor Mohammed Ghaddar.
Twelve more people were killed and 18 wounded in those strikes, according to tally from three area hospitals.
Witnesses said one of the destroyed houses belonged to Sheik Mustafa Khalifeh, a cleric linked to Hezbollah, but it was unclear if he was among the casualties. Most Hezbollah officials have left their homes and offices since the offensive began nearly a month ago.
Ghaziyeh has been targeted several times, but the attacks Monday and Tuesday were the heaviest. The town was overflowing with displaced people, who have swelled its population to 23,000.
Meanwhile, diplomats at the United Nations struggled to keep a peace plan from collapsing over Arab demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal. And military planners in Jerusalem said they will push even deeper into Lebanon to target rocket sites.
Israel declared a no-drive zone in the entire region south of Lebanon's Litani River ? 20 miles from the border ? warning residents that any vehicle on the roads would be destroyed on the assumption it was carrying Hezbollah rockets or supplies. The order left the streets of the region's main city Tyre empty and civilians in villages across the south unable to flee.
Attempts to draw a cease-fire blueprint came down to a test between a step-by-step proposal backed by Washington and Lebanon's insistence ? supported by Arab allies ? that nothing can happen before Israeli soldiers leave. In New York, Arab envoys and
U.N. Security Council members tried to hammer out a compromise.
Lebanon put its offers on the table: pledging up to 15,000 troops to a possible peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon and saying Hezbollah's days of running a state within a state would end. The military plan had added significance since it was backed by the two Hezbollah members on Lebanon's Cabinet ? apparently showing a willingness for a lasting pact by the Islamic militants and their main sponsors, Iran and Syria.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora on Tuesday praised Hezbollah's resistance, but said it was time for Lebanon to "impose its full control, authority and presence" over the war-weary country.
"There will be no authority, no one in command, no weapons other than those of the Lebanese state," he said on Al-Arabiya television.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called the proposed Lebanese troop deployment "interesting" and said Israel would favor pulling out once it decides Hezbollah is no longer a direct threat.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Lebanese forces "would need to be supported by international forces." He added: "It certainly is a significant proposal."
In the rocky hills of southern Lebanon, ground fighting continued in attempts to control key villages and territory near the border, including sites used for Hezbollah rocket barrages that have reached deep into Israel in the heaviest Arab-Israeli battles in 24 years.
At least 145 Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel by midafternoon.
Israeli artillery and airstrikes pounded a broad swath of southern Lebanon from the Mediterranean coast to inland valleys ? including many areas in the Hezbollah heartland now under a blanket curfew imposed by Israel to try to choke off arms routes.
Earlier, rescuers said they retrieved one body after an airstrike in Rzoum, northeast of Tyre.
Some of the fiercest skirmishes broke out around the village of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold that Israeli has tried to capture for weeks. An Israeli solider and 25 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed, the Israeli military said.
Hezbollah TV also reported pre-dawn attacks on Israeli forces near the Mediterranean town of Naqoura, about 2 1/2 miles north of the border. The Israeli military said two reserve soldiers were killed in the area.
The latest casualties brought the number of people killed in Lebanon to at least 684, while the Israeli death toll was 100.
In a southern suburb of Beirut, workers pulled 20 bodies from the rubble of two buildings hit by a rocket on Monday ? raising the death toll from that strike to 30. That attack came just hours after Arab League foreign ministers wrapped up a crisis meeting that threw their full diplomatic weight behind Lebanon.
It set the baseline demand for the Security Council: a full Israeli withdrawal or no peace deal is possible. The message was given in an emotional address by Saniora and carried to the U.N. by Arab League envoys.
Saniora's government voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw.
The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, where Hezbollah rules with near autonomy bolstered by channels of aid and weapons from Iran and Syria. Lebanon has avoided any attempt to implement a two-year-old U.N. resolution calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah, fearing it could touch off civil unrest.
The coming days should offer signs on whether a cease-fire plan has a chance.
The original proposal, drafted by the United States and France, demanded a "full cessation of hostilities" on both sides and a buffer zone patrolled by Lebanese forces and U.N. troops. But the plan did not specifically call for an Israeli withdrawal. Critics said it would give room for Israeli defensive operations.
French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere promised to take Lebanon's stance into account. But he did not say whether France was prepared to add such language to the text.
French President Jacques Chirac will interrupt his vacation to hold urgent talks Wednesday with his prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister, his office said.
Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft in response to amendments proposed by Qatar, the only Arab nation on the 15-nation Security Council, and other members, diplomats said. A vote is not expected before Wednesday.
The proposed changes include a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. peacekeepers. Arab states also want U.N. forces to take control of the disputed Chebaa Farms area, which Israel seized in 1967. Saniora asked for Israel to provide a full map of all land mines in southern Lebanon.
Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani warned of "a civil war in Lebanon" between Hezbollah and government forces if the Security Council does not make changes to the U.S.-French draft resolution. "Lebanon won't bear it," he told Al-Jazeera.
Saniora urged Israel to consider "a different logic" of compromise. Otherwise, he said, the region can never escape violence.
"Blood draws more blood and hatred breeds more hatred," he told Al-Arabiya.
He also took a jab at Hezbollah's sponsor Syria, which ended a nearly three-decade military presence in Lebanon last year.
"Syria should get used to the fact that Lebanon is an independent state," he said, without mentioning Hezbollah's other patron, Iran.
Israel sent mixed signals. The government said it was studying Lebanon's pledge to contribute troops to a potential peacekeeping force. But Defense Minister Amir Peretz outlined plans to drive deeper into Lebanon to try to destroy Hezbollah rocket batteries, which have fired more than 3,000 into northern Israel.
A senior government official offered to pay to move up to 17,000 Israelis living in border towns.
Peretz said a new push ? expected to be approved Wednesday by Israel's Security Cabinet ? would extend as far as the Litani River.
The Israeli army said it declared an indefinite curfew on the movement of vehicles south of the Litani. Humanitarian traffic would be allowed, but other vehicles would be at risk if they ignored the order, the army said.
In Geneva, the U.N. Human Rights Council said it plans to convene a special session this week to consider taking action against Israel for its Lebanon offensive.
Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Jerusalem and Lauren Frayer in Beirut contributed to this report.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The story about the U.N. stopping humanitarian aid can be found here. I just didn't want to overwhelm some of you guys with too much reading material at once; it usually makes your brains shut down.
"No vehicle traffic" imposed by Israel and heavy bombing mean that humantarian supplies in Southern Lebanon are dangerously low, and civilians won't be allowed to escape the region. So much for the oh-so-tired "human shield" argument that seems to be the answer for all Israeli acts of terror over the last month.
You guys think bombing empty Hezbollah official's offices is going to make a dent in their leadership? Hate to tell you this, but they're long gone out of the conflict area, well into Northern Lebanon or Syria is my guess. The Hezbollah guerrillas are definitely still in the conflict area, but they can and likely will be replaced with this much civilian blood being spilled.
Overall, a highly successful campaign for Israel. :roll: And the U.S. is spearheading the effort to cut them short.
It was definitely a nice touch for Israel to send the funeral procession scattering with their bombs. How classy is that?
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