POSTED AT 5:05 PM EDT ON 06/08/06
Mideast fighting intensifies despite a draft UN ceasefire resolution
Associated press
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060806.wisrael0806/BNStory/Front/home
BEIRUT ― Hezbollah guerrillas unleashed their deadliest rocket attack on northern Israel on Sunday, killing 12 reserve soldiers with a single missile at this kibbutz and killing at least three people and wounding dozens more with a barrage that battered Haifa.
Israeli warplanes and artillery also pounded Lebanon, causing at least 13 deaths as fighting intensified despite a draft UN ceasefire resolution. Loud explosions echoed across Lebanon's capital, Beirut, when Israeli jets fired missiles into its southern suburbs in the afternoon.
Hezbollah and its allies rejected the U.S.-French text of the UN resolution, saying its terms for a halt in fighting did not address Lebanon's demands ― a signal that the nearly 4-week-old battle would burn on.
Both sides appeared to be aiming to inflict maximum damage in the few days before the resolution is expected to be voted on by the UN Security Council.
真主党和以色列双方，好象都有意地赶在安理会就停火方案投票之前，给对方以最大程度的破坏和增加对方的痛苦指数
Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, with one Katyusha making a direct hit on army reservists gathered at the entrance to Kfar Giladi, a communal farm 40 miles northwest of Haifa on the border with Lebanon.
Ten people were killed outright, and two died a few hours later from wounds, said David Ratner, spokesman for Rambam hospital. Five more people were wounded, one seriously, he said.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said all the victims were soldiers, and it was the worst toll from a rocket attack on Israel since the fighting began July 12.
When word of the Kfar Giladi rocket strike reached the Israeli Cabinet during its weekly meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "Lucky that we are dealing with Hezbollah today, and not in another two or three years," according to a participant in the meeting.
Just after nightfall, Hezbollah rockets crashed into several residential areas in Haifa, a port that is Israel's third-largest city. At least three people died and more than 40 suffered injuries when rockets collapsed at least two houses and damaged others, authorities said.
It was unclear how many rockets fell on the city, but a spokesman for the Haifa fire department, Chezi Levi, said one crowded district had five or six hits. Smoke rose high over the city.
Until now, only isolated rockets had landed in Haifa. One rocket explosion at a train station killed eight people July 16 ― the highest death toll until Sunday's hit on the soldiers at Kfar Giladi.
In southern Lebanon, dozens of Israeli airstrikes hit communities and roads, with some villages bombed continually for a half hour, security officials said. Ground fighting raged along a stretch of southern Lebanon where the Israeli army has crossed the border.
Israeli airstrikes killed a Lebanese army intelligence officer and wounded seven soldiers at Mansouri and wounded five other soldiers in Debbin. Israeli missiles also flattened a house in Ansar village, killing a man and four of his relatives, security officials said.
Other attacks killed three people in the frontier village of al-Jibbain, the driver of a bread van near Tyre and a third person in Naqoura, near the border on the Mediterranean coast.
Israel also bombed two camps of a Palestinian militant group in Lebanon, the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. The group reported one person killed in the attack.
A statement from Hezbollah announced the deaths of three of its fighters, but did not say when or where they were killed.
A Hezbollah rocket blast also injured three Chinese peacekeepers Sunday, China's state media reported, citing a Chinese officer. The report did not specify where the attack occurred or whether the peacekeepers had been hospitalized.
The U.S.-French agreement Saturday on a U.N. resolution calling for "a full cessation of hostilities" marked a significant advance after weeks of stalled diplomacy aimed at ending the conflict.
But getting the two sides ― particularly Hezbollah ― to sign on will likely require a greater push. Israel has said it won't halt its offensive until Hezbollah rockets are silenced.
The plan envisions a second resolution in a week or two that would authorize an international military force for the Israel-Lebanon frontier and the creation of a large buffer zone in southern Lebanon, monitored by the Lebanese army and foreign peacekeepers.
The deployment of the international force is a cornerstone of the U.S.-led Western effort to bring a long-term peace.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed the resolution was aimed at stopping the large-scale violence to allow a focus on the underlying problems in the conflict.
"It's the first step, not the only step," she said at a news conference in Washington.
"We're trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years," Ms. Rice said.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, who represents the Shiite Islamic militant group in negotiations, said the draft was unacceptable because it would leave Israeli troops in Lebanon and did not deal with Beirut's key demands ― a release of prisoners held by Israel and moves to resolve a dispute over a piece of border territory.
"If Israel has not won the war but still gets all this, what would have happened had they won?" Mr. Berri said. "Lebanon, all of Lebanon, rejects any talks and any draft resolution" that do not address the Lebanese demands, he said.
The Lebanese government said Saturday that it objected to portions of the draft resolution and demanded some amendments, but an aide to Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said that did not mean a flat rejection.
Hezbollah's two key allies, Iran and Syria, also rejected the resolution ― suggesting they backed a continued fight by the guerrillas.
"The United States, which has been supporting the Zionist regime until today, has no right to enter the crisis as a mediator," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a phone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Mr. Assad said the presence of international troops with extensive power in Lebanon would cause anarchy in the country, according to a report on Mr. Ahmadinejad's official Web site.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, on his first visit to Lebanon since Damascus ended a 29-year military presence in its smaller neighbour last year, declared that the U.S.-French ceasefire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war" unless Israeli troops withdrew.
Arab foreign ministers planned a Monday meeting in Beirut that could see a stormy debate over the draft U.N. resolution. U.S.-allied Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are eager for a halt to the fighting ― but their citizens would be angered if they were perceived as forcing a surrender on Hezbollah.
For Hezbollah, the resolution would be a tough pill to swallow, particularly language calling for the "unconditional release" of two Israeli soldiers captured by the guerrillas in a cross-border raid July 12. The abduction prompted the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
The Israeli army announced Sunday that it had captured one of the Hezbollah guerrillas involved in the abduction raid.
到目前为止：
So far, at least 590 people have died in Lebanon, including 507 civilians, 29 members of the army, one Palestinian militant and 53 guerrillas acknowledged dead by Hezbollah. Israeli security officials told the Cabinet on Sunday they had confirmed the deaths of 165 Hezbollah fighters and estimated 200 more had been killed, according to a participant in the meeting.
The toll in Israel stood at 94 dead ― 49 killed by rocket attacks and the rest soldiers killed in ground combat.
Mideast fighting intensifies despite a draft UN ceasefire resolution
Associated press
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060806.wisrael0806/BNStory/Front/home
BEIRUT ― Hezbollah guerrillas unleashed their deadliest rocket attack on northern Israel on Sunday, killing 12 reserve soldiers with a single missile at this kibbutz and killing at least three people and wounding dozens more with a barrage that battered Haifa.
Israeli warplanes and artillery also pounded Lebanon, causing at least 13 deaths as fighting intensified despite a draft UN ceasefire resolution. Loud explosions echoed across Lebanon's capital, Beirut, when Israeli jets fired missiles into its southern suburbs in the afternoon.
Hezbollah and its allies rejected the U.S.-French text of the UN resolution, saying its terms for a halt in fighting did not address Lebanon's demands ― a signal that the nearly 4-week-old battle would burn on.
Both sides appeared to be aiming to inflict maximum damage in the few days before the resolution is expected to be voted on by the UN Security Council.
真主党和以色列双方，好象都有意地赶在安理会就停火方案投票之前，给对方以最大程度的破坏和增加对方的痛苦指数
Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets at Israeli towns, with one Katyusha making a direct hit on army reservists gathered at the entrance to Kfar Giladi, a communal farm 40 miles northwest of Haifa on the border with Lebanon.
Ten people were killed outright, and two died a few hours later from wounds, said David Ratner, spokesman for Rambam hospital. Five more people were wounded, one seriously, he said.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said all the victims were soldiers, and it was the worst toll from a rocket attack on Israel since the fighting began July 12.
When word of the Kfar Giladi rocket strike reached the Israeli Cabinet during its weekly meeting, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said: "Lucky that we are dealing with Hezbollah today, and not in another two or three years," according to a participant in the meeting.
Just after nightfall, Hezbollah rockets crashed into several residential areas in Haifa, a port that is Israel's third-largest city. At least three people died and more than 40 suffered injuries when rockets collapsed at least two houses and damaged others, authorities said.
It was unclear how many rockets fell on the city, but a spokesman for the Haifa fire department, Chezi Levi, said one crowded district had five or six hits. Smoke rose high over the city.
Until now, only isolated rockets had landed in Haifa. One rocket explosion at a train station killed eight people July 16 ― the highest death toll until Sunday's hit on the soldiers at Kfar Giladi.
In southern Lebanon, dozens of Israeli airstrikes hit communities and roads, with some villages bombed continually for a half hour, security officials said. Ground fighting raged along a stretch of southern Lebanon where the Israeli army has crossed the border.
Israeli airstrikes killed a Lebanese army intelligence officer and wounded seven soldiers at Mansouri and wounded five other soldiers in Debbin. Israeli missiles also flattened a house in Ansar village, killing a man and four of his relatives, security officials said.
Other attacks killed three people in the frontier village of al-Jibbain, the driver of a bread van near Tyre and a third person in Naqoura, near the border on the Mediterranean coast.
Israel also bombed two camps of a Palestinian militant group in Lebanon, the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. The group reported one person killed in the attack.
A statement from Hezbollah announced the deaths of three of its fighters, but did not say when or where they were killed.
A Hezbollah rocket blast also injured three Chinese peacekeepers Sunday, China's state media reported, citing a Chinese officer. The report did not specify where the attack occurred or whether the peacekeepers had been hospitalized.
The U.S.-French agreement Saturday on a U.N. resolution calling for "a full cessation of hostilities" marked a significant advance after weeks of stalled diplomacy aimed at ending the conflict.
But getting the two sides ― particularly Hezbollah ― to sign on will likely require a greater push. Israel has said it won't halt its offensive until Hezbollah rockets are silenced.
The plan envisions a second resolution in a week or two that would authorize an international military force for the Israel-Lebanon frontier and the creation of a large buffer zone in southern Lebanon, monitored by the Lebanese army and foreign peacekeepers.
The deployment of the international force is a cornerstone of the U.S.-led Western effort to bring a long-term peace.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed the resolution was aimed at stopping the large-scale violence to allow a focus on the underlying problems in the conflict.
"It's the first step, not the only step," she said at a news conference in Washington.
"We're trying to deal with a problem that has been festering and brewing in Lebanon now for years and years and years," Ms. Rice said.
Lebanon's parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, who represents the Shiite Islamic militant group in negotiations, said the draft was unacceptable because it would leave Israeli troops in Lebanon and did not deal with Beirut's key demands ― a release of prisoners held by Israel and moves to resolve a dispute over a piece of border territory.
"If Israel has not won the war but still gets all this, what would have happened had they won?" Mr. Berri said. "Lebanon, all of Lebanon, rejects any talks and any draft resolution" that do not address the Lebanese demands, he said.
The Lebanese government said Saturday that it objected to portions of the draft resolution and demanded some amendments, but an aide to Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said that did not mean a flat rejection.
Hezbollah's two key allies, Iran and Syria, also rejected the resolution ― suggesting they backed a continued fight by the guerrillas.
"The United States, which has been supporting the Zionist regime until today, has no right to enter the crisis as a mediator," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a phone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Mr. Assad said the presence of international troops with extensive power in Lebanon would cause anarchy in the country, according to a report on Mr. Ahmadinejad's official Web site.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, on his first visit to Lebanon since Damascus ended a 29-year military presence in its smaller neighbour last year, declared that the U.S.-French ceasefire plan was "a recipe for the continuation of the war" unless Israeli troops withdrew.
Arab foreign ministers planned a Monday meeting in Beirut that could see a stormy debate over the draft U.N. resolution. U.S.-allied Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are eager for a halt to the fighting ― but their citizens would be angered if they were perceived as forcing a surrender on Hezbollah.
For Hezbollah, the resolution would be a tough pill to swallow, particularly language calling for the "unconditional release" of two Israeli soldiers captured by the guerrillas in a cross-border raid July 12. The abduction prompted the Israeli offensive in Lebanon.
The Israeli army announced Sunday that it had captured one of the Hezbollah guerrillas involved in the abduction raid.
到目前为止：
So far, at least 590 people have died in Lebanon, including 507 civilians, 29 members of the army, one Palestinian militant and 53 guerrillas acknowledged dead by Hezbollah. Israeli security officials told the Cabinet on Sunday they had confirmed the deaths of 165 Hezbollah fighters and estimated 200 more had been killed, according to a participant in the meeting.
The toll in Israel stood at 94 dead ― 49 killed by rocket attacks and the rest soldiers killed in ground combat.
