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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Israel preparing for ground invasion ? Troops mass on Lebanon border |
| 2006-07-21 |
| ISRAEL is massing it's forces along the border with Lebanon amid speculation they are set to mount a massive ground invasion as early as today. Thousands of Lebanese civilians are fleeing north after Israel warned them to leave border villages and called up 3,000 army reserves in a possible prelude to a major ground offensive against Hizbollah guerrillas. US television network CNBC said intelligence sources told an affiliate that the ground invasion was "imminent" and likely to start later today. CNBC said an unidentified Western nation had also told NBC that Israeli troops were expected to enter Lebanon today. But another military source later said the Israeli army plans to step up pinpoint incursions into southern Lebanon but will stop short of a full-scale ground invasion. "You should not expect a full-scale incursion into Lebanon," the source told Reuters, adding that brief, targeted incursions would intensify along the border. "We are already inside Lebanon and troops will continue to operate there because it is the only way to act against the Hizbollah bunkers there," the source said. The army is also reported to have told 3,000 reserves to report for duty. The call-up came a day after Defence Minister Amir Peretz spoke of a possible land offensive. The Israeli army could have three to four divisions on the border with Lebanon by the end of the weekend, the YNET news Web site reported. The army would not confirm or deny the report. Lebanon's defence minister said the army, which has not fought so far despite losing a score of soldiers in Israeli air strikes, would defend the country against invasion. Amid mounting world alarm at the 10-day-old conflict, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would visit the Middle East next week and attend an Italian-hosted international conference in Rome on Tuesday in a bid to secure lasting peace. The announcement came as Al Arabiya television reported the Israeli army had found the body of an Israeli soldier who had previously been reported missing. It later said the body was found in southern Lebanon, but gave no more details. Earlier on Friday, Israel's army confirmed that four soldiers had been killed and several wounded in fierce clashes with Hizbollah guerrillas just inside Lebanon on Thursday. Israel has so far failed to stop Hizbollah cross-border rocket attacks, despite 10 days of bombardment which have killed 345 people in Lebanon and forced half a million to leave their homes. About 90 per cent of those killed were civilians. Australians trapped in southern Lebanon have also reportedly been injured in Israeli attacks on the border town of Aitaroun. At least 34 Israeli troops and civilians have been killed, almost all in fighting with Hizbollah guerrillas or by rockets fired by the Lebanese group. The United States, Israel's main ally, has rebuffed Lebanon's appeals for an immediate UN-backed ceasefire, saying this would not last unless Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is prevented from attacking the Jewish state. Rice told a news conference in Washington an immediate ceasefire would be a "false promise" if the root causes of the conflict were not addressed. "An immediate ceasefire without political conditions does not make sense," she said. Border residents flee Families with possessions packed into cars and pickup trucks clogged roads to the north after Israeli planes dropped leaflets warning residents of south Lebanon to flee for safety beyond the Litani river, about 20 km from the border. An estimated 300,000 mostly Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese normally reside south of the Litani. There was no word on how many have already fled the bombing and fighting of the past few days. Air raids have wrecked many roads and bridges in the region. Israel began its assault after Hizbollah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12. It has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28 to recover another soldier, seized by Palestinian militants. Israelis still overwhelmingly back the military operations, a new opinion poll in the Maariv newspaper showed. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was involved in brokering a 2004 prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbollah, also plans a trip to the Middle East next week. In Gaza, Palestinian medics said Israeli shelling killed a Hamas militant and four civilians on Friday, as tanks and troops withdrew from a refugee camp after a three-day assault. |
| Posted by:Oztralian |
| #2 Hopefully the IDF have a fix on the bunkers now, and can drop something suitably nasty down them. |
| Posted by: Aztaroth 2006-07-21 22:36 |
| #1 Israel: defend yourselves with all means available. Lebanon: you brought this on yourselves by not living up to your agreements to disarm the murdering Shia scum. Tehran and Damascus: I hope there's a nuke with your names on it sitting somewhere in an Israeli bunker just waiting to be loaded on an F-16. It's not one iota less than you deserve. |
| Posted by: mac 2006-07-21 22:31 |