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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Fierce fighting as IDF commandos launch raid deep in Lebanon | |
| 2006-08-02 | |
| Israel Defense Forces commandos reportedly landed by helicopter late Tuesday night near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek in what Lebanese security sources described as a major operation against suspected Hezbollah positions. Lebanese security sources said the troops landed as aircraft launched several strikes near Baalbek, which is located in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. One Lebanese officer said the Israel Air Force presence in the air above the ancient city was "unprecedented." The IDF reported at daybreak on Wednesday that its troops returned from the operation to their base in Israel unharmed. IDF also reported that Hezbollah militants sustained some casualties during the fighting and that several militants were captured by the IDF and taken back to Israel. Lebanese security sources reported at least seven civilians killed in the air strike on a village near Baalbek. They said Israel Air Force planes bombarded the village of Jammaliyeh during clashes nearby in Baalbek. They said five members of the same family were found dead in one house and two more were found dead in another collapsed house. The operation began with at least five rapid air strikes on Baalbek and its surroundings at 10:20 P.M. - three hours before the end of Israel's self-imposed two-day pause in air attacks. Helicopters fired rockets and heavy machinegun fire at targets near a hospital in Baalbek and other sites in the city, witnesses said. Witnesses in Baalbek said they saw dozens of IAF helicopters hovering over the city. They said the hospital in Baalbek, filled with patients and wounded people, was bombed by IAF helicopters late Tuesday. Plumes of burning smoke billowed from the hospital after it was directly hit, they said. "The extreme, unprecedented number of aircraft indicates the possibility that the Israelis are planning to land troops, but we cannot yet confirm that," a security official said earlier, on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. Flares held aloft by parachutes lighted the night sky to a daytime brilliance, the official said. Four hours into the operation the fighting continued, witnesses said. IAF warplanes staged more than 10 bombing runs at 2.20 A.M. (2320 GMT) Wednesday around the hospital as well as on hills in east and north Baalbek. The planes also dropped flares over the city while the heavy fighting was raging around the hospital, they added. Shortly after the IAF raids began, electricity was cut off, plunging Baalbek and other neighboring villages in total darkness. IAF helicopters also attacked a target 15 kilometers west of Baalbek, starting a huge fire, witnesses said. It was not immediately known if the target was controlled by Hezbollah or the Lebanese army. Hezbollah claimed that the IDF commandos were trapped inside the hospital and were engaged in fierce fighting with guerilla fighters who surrounded the facility. There was no independent confirmation.
IAF helicopters also opened machine-gun fire on Hezbollah fighters entrenched outside the hospital, witnesses said. Repeated telephone calls to the Dar al-Hikma hospital went unanswered. "The battles are fierce... there are casualties among the civilians who live in the area," a Lebanese security source said. Al-Jazeera reported that the commando force landed at the hospital, in the village of Tel Al-Abayed, in an apparent effort to strike a senior Hezbollah official Israel suspected was hospitalized there. According to the report, the hospital was evacuated prior to the start of the IDF operation. IAF fighter jets returned at 3:35 A.M. Wednesday and fired eight missiles on residential neighborhoods in eastern and northern Baalbek where Hezbollah's Shiite supporters live, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties. However, fierce fighting around the hospital stopped shortly before 4 A.M. as precarious calm prevailed in Baalbek, residents said. Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, the residents said the Dar al-Hikma hospital is financed by an Iranian charity, the Imam Khomeini Charitable Society, which is close to Hezbollah. The hospital is also run by people close to Hezbollah, the residents said. Repeated telephone calls to the Dar al-Hikma hospital went unanswered. | |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #37 Little fish or no, I sure love this shit. More plz... |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-08-02 21:22 |
| #36 it's NOT a torture kit. It's a persuasion kit |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-02 19:35 |
| #35 We need the torture kit graphic here, I think. |
| Posted by: Phetle Wheaper8223 2006-08-02 19:15 |
| #34 Lebanese security sources reported at least seven civilians killed in the air strike on a village near Baalbek. They said Israel Air Force planes bombarded the village of Jammaliyeh during clashes nearby in Baalbek. They said five members of the same family were found dead in one house and two more were found dead in another collapsed house. Sleep with dogs and wake up Personally, even lutefisk probably smells better than any of the prisoners they took. Captured terrorists should be fed it three times a day. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-08-02 18:26 |
| #33 lutefisk? The only thing I don't miss from my Mother's Jul smorgasbords - or at least the weeks preceding them. |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-08-02 15:24 |
| #32 as tasty as lutefisk Gotta make sure to really, REALLY rinse that lutefisk before you heat it up. The results aren't pretty if you don't do a good job. DAMHIKT... |
| Posted by: eLarson 2006-08-02 13:31 |
| #31 I was JUST thinkin' the same, Iblis! They don't know what's gonna hit 'em when they surround us, do they? |
| Posted by: BA 2006-08-02 13:16 |
| #30 "They have us surrounded, the poor bastards." |
| Posted by: Iblis 2006-08-02 12:20 |
| #29 as tasty as lutefisk? |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2006-08-02 10:10 |
| #28 Where are all the doom-and-gloomers now? IDF mission was spotted in advance by Hezbos, and still managed to land near hospital, check out everybody's IDs, captured five Hezbos, kill another ten in combat, and safely extricate from the area without a single commando even wounded. |
| Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden 2006-08-02 10:09 |
| #27 A hospital with no patients and no doctors. Hmmmmm. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-08-02 10:01 |
| #26 "tasty fishes"!! - what the? The mind boggles... FrankG - that's class! ;) |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-08-02 08:53 |
| #25 I love when the MSM islamofacist facilitators get their apples dumped out of their cart! |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-08-02 08:47 |
| #24 members of 6's Anchovy Fleet of Doom™? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-02 08:27 |
| #23 I don't think anything about hezspurta is "tasty", but to each their own. ;) |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2006-08-02 08:24 |
| #22 from jpost intel (also appears they retrieved other types of intel info they are exploiting) Asked in an Associated Press interview who was captured in the raid, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said "tasty fishes" were among those seized. |
| Posted by: Legolas 2006-08-02 07:58 |
| #21 Takes time to plan, to prep the battlefield, insert forward ops people .... Geez, NS - it isn't a video game! Instantaneous satisfaction isn't always on tap. Gotta appreciate NS' worrying though. As my mother-in-law says when told she worries too much, "I have to - no one else around here is pulling their worrying weight!" LOL |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-08-02 07:52 |
| #20 Finally the IDF of yore. I know this raid was a big success because for the first time in three weeks when Radio Hezb'Allah (NPR) ran their top of the hour headlines there was NO mention of the raid or the increased troops in the south. I love it when they are shut up. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-02 06:56 |
| #19 Now that all my doom and glooming has been rewarded, I'll take a few days off. See you when the heat breaks. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-08-02 06:53 |
| #18 Trapped and surounded, but they all got out? AS - I love the definition of quagmire! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-08-02 06:25 |
| #17 It was an Iranian-funded hospital and a major Hizb'allah command post, 11A5S. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-08-02 06:23 |
| #16 Haaretz says they grabbed 5, no big fish apparently. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-08-02 05:53 |
| #15 Well, from the point of view of hizb/syria/iran, it sure is "odious", isn't it? |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-08-02 02:56 |
| #14 Oldcat, yes, audacious (it's been a long day) |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-08-02 02:46 |
| #13 We'll know soon enough who the IDF snatched. In the meantime they'll be invited to a friendly chat with Mossad. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2006-08-02 02:11 |
| #12 Was 'audacious' what you were thinking of at first? |
| Posted by: Oldcat 2006-08-02 02:07 |
| #11 Wrong verb "daring" not "odious" |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-08-02 01:46 |
| #10 An odious raid. Let's see who the "biggie" is. And that you for flying Israel air |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-08-02 01:45 |
| #9 Since it was a protected building under the GC, Ima guessing that it was a Hizb'allan command post. |
| Posted by: 11A5S 2006-08-02 01:32 |
| #8 Enjoyed watching Gens Scales and Andrews on Greta tonite, talking about laughing with each other before they came on, about the reporting of the "troops surrounded, heavy fighting", etc. etc. They were actually giggling, saying, "these guys are good. They aren't in trouble." |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-08-02 01:04 |
| #7 That operation officially annonced to the world...and more importantly to the Hezzies, Iram and Syria: We can do da** near anything we want if it suits our purpose...and there's not a da** thing you can do about it. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-08-02 00:53 |
| #6 NS? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-02 00:43 |
| #5 Well the raid could be only a showcase for internal comsuption unless they bring a biig fish. The offensive is much more important than this. |
| Posted by: Wheack Spinelet1983 2006-08-02 00:41 |
| #4 U.N. Condemnation of Hezbollah for firing at a Hospital in 5... 4... 3.. 2... 1... 0... -1... -2.... -3... (ah screw it!) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2006-08-02 00:41 |
| #3 I believe I read three different articles today declaring that Israel was in a "quagmire", defined as "not conducting war on the pundit's timetable". I don't know that they're not in a quagmire, but the timing is amusing, nonetheless. In future, we need to determine the Quagmire Interval, which is the time between simultaneous media eruptions of "Quagmire!", and the re-commencement of vigorous military operations. In this case I think it was about twelve hours. |
| Posted by: Angie Schultz 2006-08-02 00:37 |
| #2 IDF commandos capture Hizbullah members after battle By JPOST STAFF AND AP After several hours of intense fighting in and around a hospital in the southern Lebanon town of Baalbek, IDF commando forces on Wednesday morning took a number of Hizbullah officials captive. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-08-02 00:21 |
| #1 Slimebag Syrian ambassador just said on CNN that Israel is in a "fiasco" in Baalbeck. We'll see. |
| Posted by: JAB 2006-08-02 00:14 |