BOURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon - Israel pressed the first full day of a massive new
ground attack, sending 8,000 troops into southern Lebanon on Wednesday and
seizing five people it said were Hezbollah fighters in a dramatic airborne raid
on a northeastern town. Hezbollah retaliated with its deepest strikes yet into
Israel, firing a record number of more than 160 rockets.
Diplomatic efforts faltered, with France saying it will not
participate in a Thursday U.N. meeting that could send troops to help monitor a
cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. France, which may join or even lead
such a force, said it does not want to talk about sending peacekeepers until
fighting halts and the UN Security Council agrees to a wider framework for
lasting peace.
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An Israeli soldier holds a rifle he said was
captured from Hezbollah guerrillas, as troops return from southern Lebanon
in northern Israel Tuesday Aug. 1, 2006. In a major expansion of its
ground offensive, Israel has decided to send troops deeper into Lebanon to
clear out Hezbollah fighters and secure the territory until a
multinational force is deployed there, senior officials said Tuesday.
[AP]
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Pope Benedict XVI issued a new appeal for peace in the Middle East. He
urged "the international community and those who are more directly involved in
this tragedy to lay down conditions as soon as possible for a definitive
political solution to the crisis."
Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to talk to the media, said their troops were going from
village to village in south Lebanon to clear them of Hezbollah guerrillas.
Hezbollah was putting up resistance, but the officials said they were
confident that would not change their objective of reaching four miles into
Lebanon by Thursday. They said they could easily dash inland to the Litani
River - their final objective about 18 miles from the border - but
that they were moving methodically so as not to leave behind pockets of
resistance.
Israeli commandos flew in by helicopter before dawn into the northern town of
Baalbek, on the border with Syria, capturing five Hezbollah guerrillas and
killing at least 10, said Israel's army chief, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz.
Witnesses said Israeli forces partially destroyed the Dar al-Hikma hospital
in Baalbek, where chief Hezbollah spokesman Hussein Rahal said fierce fighting
raged for more than one hour.
Israel has not yet released the identity of those captured. When asked by The
Associated Press whether any were "big fish," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
said: "They are tasty fishes."
A Hezbollah official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not
authorized to give official statements to the media, said that Israeli troops
captured "four or five" people, but not at the hospital.
He denied they were Hezbollah fighters, saying one was a 60-year-old grocery
store owner and two relatives who work in construction.
