Israel, Hezbollah in deadly battle
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israel, Hezbollah in deadly battle*
Israeli sends to south Lebanon to 'destroy Hezbollah outposts'
Wednesday, July 19, 2006 Posted: 1815 GMT (0215 HKT)
Lebanon: 300 dead, Lebanese authorities say, including 11 soldiers; no
further breakdown between civilians and military personnel.
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on
Wednesday called for a cease-fire and denounced Israel as a "savage war
machine" responsible for more than 300 Lebanese deaths.
Another 1,000 people have been wounded since the hostilities started a
week ago, Siniora said in a televised national address. The Lebanese
Internal Security Forces, however, reported 216 civilians killed and 524
civilians injured, as of 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday.
Siniora's call for a comprehensive cease-fire came as Israel's military
continued its battle -- by air and by ground -- against Hezbollah
targets within Lebanon. Two Israel soldiers died in heavy fighting,
according to the Israel Defense Forces.
CNN's Karl Penhaul reported seeing many civilian casualties at the main
hospital in Tyre, Lebanon, near the Israeli border.
In its ongoing air assault, Israel's military targeted Beirut, hitting a
vehicle in the city's Christian neighborhood -- shocking residents who
overall do not support the Islamic militant group.
Hezbollah continued to fire rockets into northern Israel Wednesday,
killing two Israeli children in Nazareth, the southernmost point where
Israeli casualties have been reported so far. With the deaths, 29
Israelis -- 15 civilians and 14 soldiers -- have been killed in the
weeklong fighting, according to the IDF.
The Israeli cities of Haifa, Tiberias, Acre, Shlomi and Carmiel were
also targeted Wednesday. (See map of the area)
Most residents are staying in bomb shelters or have left.
The Israel Defense Forces confirmed its ground troops launched what it
described as a pinpoint operation inside southern Lebanon, but the IDF
did not say where the incursion took place.
"Their mission is to destroy Hezbollah outposts," an IDF spokesman told
CNN early Wednesday. (Watch a soldier describe his orders to 'dismantle,
attack, destroy' -- 1:25)
Backing the incursion were ground forces in northern Israel, able to
fire howitzers up to 17 miles (28 kilometers) inside Lebanon.
Disband, disarm is goal
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Hezbollah was the
biggest obstacle to Lebanese sovereignty and Israel's end game was to
disband and disarm it.
Regev said Israel will not initiate conflict with Syria or Iran -- the
financial and military backers of Hezbollah -- unless they attack Israel.
"I can tell you unequivocally we have no intention of widening this
conflict ... The idea is to come out of this conflict ... with the
disarmament of Hezbollah," he said.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman stressed the
latest operation was "in no way an invasion of Lebanon."
For days a "small group" of Israeli troops has been traveling into
Lebanon near the border fence, the IDF said. The goal is to pinpoint
Hezbollah infrastructure such as mines and tunnels.
Throughout the night, a CNN team in the southern Lebanese port city of
Tyre, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Israeli border, heard
explosions, drones and helicopters.
An IDF spokesman declined to say whether the helicopter movements there
were linked to the ground operation.
'The most dangerous place'
Israeli airstrikes also pounded the Beirut airport and the nearby
southern suburbs. The Israeli military has justified the airport as a
target, saying Hezbollah weapons flowed through there. With the airport
not functioning, residents have been stranded in the city with few
options for escape.
The United States and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist
organization. The group, which has claimed responsibility for terrorist
acts, also operates an extensive network of social services in Lebanon.
In addition, Hezbollah holds 14 seats in the 128-member Lebanese
Parliament, according to the Parliament's Web site.
Hezbollah officials gave CNN access into the southern suburbs of Beirut
-- the area thought to house the organization's headquarters -- to show
the damage inflicted on civilians there.
They also wanted to show they do not house military stockpiles there,
CNN's Nic Robertson reported, but he could not confirm what, if
anything, was being stored.
"You never know when Israeli jet fighters come and hit any target in
this area," Hussein Nabulsi, Hezbollah press officer, told CNN on the tour.
"It is very, very dangerous. We are now at the most dangerous place at
the most dangerous moment." (Watch attack fears force a CNN crew from
ruined Beirut neighborhood -- 4:46)
Pausing before an apartment building, Nabulsi said, "Look what happened
to this building, inhabited by innocent civilians ... no military bases,
nothing."
He said he was surprised that the United Nations and international
community had not expressed outrage at the damage inflicted on the
Lebanese. "Where is the international community? Where is the Security
Council? Where's the United Nations? Where's the whole world? We are
under fire."
The continuing violence is raising fears that others in the region would
join the conflict. (Watch why and how Syrians are backing folks labeled
as terrorists -- 2:30)
In other developments:
# U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet Friday with U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan at the United Nations to discuss the Middle
East crisis, according to the State Department. Washington is opposed to
a cease-fire, which U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton
called a "simplistic" solution. (Details)
# The evacuation of Westerners from Lebanon picked up steam Wednesday as
foreign governments moved to get their citizens to safety by land, sea
and air. (Full story)
# Israeli troops moved into central Gaza on its second military front
and fierce clashes erupted there, according to Palestinian security
sources. Israel says the military operation is necessary to recover a
captured soldier and stop attacks on Israel.
CNN's Matthew Chance, Nic Robertson, Elise Labott and Karl Penhaul
contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press
contributed to this report.