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Israel escalates attacks in Lebanon, killing 27
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-07-13 16:21
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BEIRUT, July 13 -- Israeli forces intensified their retaliative attacks in Lebanon on Thursday, killing 27 civilians, local media said.
 Smokes rise from the border of Israel and Lebanon, July 12, 2006. Israeli Air Forces carried out strikes against Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and 30 targets have been attacked so far on Wednesday.[Xinhua] |
A total of 27 Lebanese civilians, including children, were killed in a series of air raids overnight, Hizbullah's television channel Al-Manar reported on Thursday morning.
The Israeli warplanes early Thursday bombed runways of Rafik Hariri International Airport, the country's only international airport, forcing it to close.
The Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station in the group's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburb was also hit by Israeli missile on Thursday morning, leaving six wounded, Lebanese Future television reported.
 An Israeli artillery unit fires across the border into southern Lebanon from a position on the frontier in northern Israel, Wednesday, July 12, 2006. Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers Wednesday, triggering an Israeli assault with warplanes, gunboats and ground troops in southern Lebanon to hunt for the captives. Seven Israeli soldiers and two Lebanese were killed in the violence. [Xinhua] |
Thursday's military escalation came in a response to Wednesday's border clashes between Hizbullah militia and Israeli army.
On Wednesday morning, several rockets fired from Lebanon hit an Israeli community in the north, wounding some civilians.
Shortly after the rocket firing, the Israeli army pounded southern Lebanon, stronghold of Hizbullah, and exchanged fire with Hizbullah militants over the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday held the Lebanese government responsible for two seized Israeli soldiers' safety, saying that the abduction of the soldiers was an act of war against Israel that would draw a "very painful" response.