Joesoef
04-08-06, 17:17
Israeli border strike 'kills 28'
People inspect the destroyed bridge at Halat which linked Beirut to north Lebanon
Bridges along Lebanon's main coastal highway were hit
An Israeli air strike near Lebanon's north-eastern border with Syria has killed at least 28 people and injured about 20, Lebanese officials have said.
The raid hit farm workers as they loaded produce at a depot, they said.
Five people also died when Israeli planes bombed bridges in mainly Christian areas north of Beirut.
Hezbollah has continued its barrage of rockets, firing more than 130 across northern Israel and killing four civilians, Israeli police said.
One person was killed and another injured in a direct hit on a house in the village of Mughar, while a strike on Kiryat Shmona left one person dead.
Two Israeli Arab villages were also struck, killing a man in each, police officials told the Associated Press news agency.
Earlier on Friday, two Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon where there is heavy fighting as Israeli forces try to push Hezbollah back from the border.
Army push
The continuing violence comes as the Israeli army has been told to prepare for a possible advance in what could be its deepest incursion into Lebanon for more than 20 years.
Neighbours inspect a house in Mughat hit by a Hezbollah rocket
Hezbollah fired an intense round of 40 rockets in half an hour
This could see the army push up to the Litani river, 30km (19 miles) north of the border, in pursuit of Hezbollah.
Israel's campaign began three weeks ago after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers.
Lebanon says more than 900 people have died since then, most of them civilians. Israel has lost 30 civilians and 40 soldiers.
The raid on the Lebanese village of Qaa, on the northern tip of the Bekaa Valley, hit a vegetable warehouse, Lebanese civil defence officials said.
The dead and injured, many of them Syrian Kurds, were taken to hospitals in Syria.
The Israeli army said it attacked two structures on suspicion that weapons were being transported, and that it was investigating reports that a warehouse had been hit.
The number of dead is the highest in a single strike since Israeli planes hit the southern Lebanese village of Qana, where, according to Human Rights Watch, 28 people were killed and 13 are still missing.
Christian heartlands
Israeli jets have also pounded targets north and south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Local media reported strikes on the Ouzai neighbourhood of southern Beirut, and warship shelling of the suburbs of Haret Hreik and Roweiss.
The Israeli military told Reuters news agency it had targeted Hezbollah offices and the home of a top Hezbollah official, along with a building operated by Palestinian group Hamas.
Map
Latest Mid-East crisis map
In pictures: Aid challenge
Israeli air strikes also destroyed four bridges on the main coastal highway in the Christian heartlands north from Beirut.
A UN refugee agency spokeswoman told the BBC the destruction of the bridges was a major setback for the aid operation.
"Now the main road is basically cut off," said Astrid van Genderen Stort. "We are looking at secondary roads, but they are small. That will delay our operations."
The Israeli army said the bridges had been destroyed to prevent Syria from rearming its ally Hezbollah.
Warning
Friday's action came after a threat from Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to target the Israeli city of Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut.
Security sources in Israel told a BBC correspondent that "if Tel Aviv was hit by Hezbollah rockets, Israel would target infrastructure in Lebanon".
An Israeli family inside a bomb shelter in Kiryat Shmona on 4 August
Many Israelis were forced to seek refuge in bomb shelters on Friday
In his televised speech Sheikh Nasrallah also said that Hezbollah would end its rocket attacks if Israel stopped attacking what he called civilian areas in Lebanon.
Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman said that suggestion was "a sign of weakness" and that Hezbollah might be "looking for a way out".
In Tel Aviv, civil defence authorities have warned people to be prepared for a possible missile attack, issuing leaflets to the city's 1.5m inhabitants, advising them to prepare bomb shelters or protected rooms.
At the United Nations in New York, negotiations are continuing on the wording of a ceasefire resolution.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has called for a lasting solution to the conflict.
He told the BBC he wanted international leaders to pressure Israel to return detainees, provide maps of landmines and withdraw from "occupied territory".
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said there will be no ceasefire until an international force is deployed in southern Lebanon.
People inspect the destroyed bridge at Halat which linked Beirut to north Lebanon
Bridges along Lebanon's main coastal highway were hit
An Israeli air strike near Lebanon's north-eastern border with Syria has killed at least 28 people and injured about 20, Lebanese officials have said.
The raid hit farm workers as they loaded produce at a depot, they said.
Five people also died when Israeli planes bombed bridges in mainly Christian areas north of Beirut.
Hezbollah has continued its barrage of rockets, firing more than 130 across northern Israel and killing four civilians, Israeli police said.
One person was killed and another injured in a direct hit on a house in the village of Mughar, while a strike on Kiryat Shmona left one person dead.
Two Israeli Arab villages were also struck, killing a man in each, police officials told the Associated Press news agency.
Earlier on Friday, two Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in southern Lebanon where there is heavy fighting as Israeli forces try to push Hezbollah back from the border.
Army push
The continuing violence comes as the Israeli army has been told to prepare for a possible advance in what could be its deepest incursion into Lebanon for more than 20 years.
Neighbours inspect a house in Mughat hit by a Hezbollah rocket
Hezbollah fired an intense round of 40 rockets in half an hour
This could see the army push up to the Litani river, 30km (19 miles) north of the border, in pursuit of Hezbollah.
Israel's campaign began three weeks ago after Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers.
Lebanon says more than 900 people have died since then, most of them civilians. Israel has lost 30 civilians and 40 soldiers.
The raid on the Lebanese village of Qaa, on the northern tip of the Bekaa Valley, hit a vegetable warehouse, Lebanese civil defence officials said.
The dead and injured, many of them Syrian Kurds, were taken to hospitals in Syria.
The Israeli army said it attacked two structures on suspicion that weapons were being transported, and that it was investigating reports that a warehouse had been hit.
The number of dead is the highest in a single strike since Israeli planes hit the southern Lebanese village of Qana, where, according to Human Rights Watch, 28 people were killed and 13 are still missing.
Christian heartlands
Israeli jets have also pounded targets north and south of the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
Local media reported strikes on the Ouzai neighbourhood of southern Beirut, and warship shelling of the suburbs of Haret Hreik and Roweiss.
The Israeli military told Reuters news agency it had targeted Hezbollah offices and the home of a top Hezbollah official, along with a building operated by Palestinian group Hamas.
Map
Latest Mid-East crisis map
In pictures: Aid challenge
Israeli air strikes also destroyed four bridges on the main coastal highway in the Christian heartlands north from Beirut.
A UN refugee agency spokeswoman told the BBC the destruction of the bridges was a major setback for the aid operation.
"Now the main road is basically cut off," said Astrid van Genderen Stort. "We are looking at secondary roads, but they are small. That will delay our operations."
The Israeli army said the bridges had been destroyed to prevent Syria from rearming its ally Hezbollah.
Warning
Friday's action came after a threat from Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to target the Israeli city of Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut.
Security sources in Israel told a BBC correspondent that "if Tel Aviv was hit by Hezbollah rockets, Israel would target infrastructure in Lebanon".
An Israeli family inside a bomb shelter in Kiryat Shmona on 4 August
Many Israelis were forced to seek refuge in bomb shelters on Friday
In his televised speech Sheikh Nasrallah also said that Hezbollah would end its rocket attacks if Israel stopped attacking what he called civilian areas in Lebanon.
Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman said that suggestion was "a sign of weakness" and that Hezbollah might be "looking for a way out".
In Tel Aviv, civil defence authorities have warned people to be prepared for a possible missile attack, issuing leaflets to the city's 1.5m inhabitants, advising them to prepare bomb shelters or protected rooms.
At the United Nations in New York, negotiations are continuing on the wording of a ceasefire resolution.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has called for a lasting solution to the conflict.
He told the BBC he wanted international leaders to pressure Israel to return detainees, provide maps of landmines and withdraw from "occupied territory".
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said there will be no ceasefire until an international force is deployed in southern Lebanon.