Death Rains on Lebanon

Lebanese soldiers and Red Cross workers evacuate the body of a man at the Halat main bridge, which linked northern Lebanon with the rest of the country, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike on Friday. (AFP)

BEIRUT, 5 August 2006 — Israel pounded Hezbollah’s southern Beirut strongholds with missiles early yesterday and, in a sharp expansion of its bombing of Lebanon, blasted highway bridges for the first time in the Christian heartland north of the capital during morning rush hour.

At least 28 farm workers were killed and 12 others wounded yesterday when four Israeli missiles slammed into a refrigerated warehouse near the Lebanon-Syria border, according to officials at the Syrian hospitals where the dead and wounded were taken.

Four civilians and a Lebanese soldier were killed and 19 wounded in the airstrikes on bridges north of Beirut early morning, Lebanese security officials said. Another Lebanese soldier was killed and two other soldiers were wounded along with four civilians in air raids near Beirut airport and the southern suburbs of the capital overnight, security officials and witnesses said.

Hezbollah said yesterday its fighters killed six Israeli soldiers in fierce fighting in the Lebanese border villages of Aita Al-Shaab and Markaba. Security officials said 57 people were buried in rubble after Israeli attacks on the southern villages of Taibeh and Aita Al-Shaab. The number of dead was not immediately known.

In response to the airstrikes on the bridges, Hezbollah said it unleashed dozens of long-range rockets on several northern Israeli towns, hitting an Israeli artillery base in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Four Israelis were reported to be killed by the rocket attacks. More than 140 rockets had hit northern Israel by yesterday afternoon.

Hezbollah hit its deepest Israeli target yet — the town of Hadera just 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Tel Aviv. Israel’s private Channel 10 television reported that three missiles landed in the area.

South Beirut has been attacked repeatedly by Israeli warplanes since fighting began July 12. It is predominantly Shiite Muslim and largely controlled by Hezbollah.

But surprisingly, Israeli warplanes struck in the Christian areas north of Beirut where Hezbollah has no support and has no presence.

The sharp expansion of the aerial bombing campaign against Lebanon came a day after Hezbollah fired a large number of rockets on Israeli towns. It also came hours after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a speech televised Thursday, threatened to launch missiles at Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest metropolis, if Israel attacks Beirut proper. He also offered to halt rocket attacks on Israel in return for an end to the air attacks.

Israeli fighter jets destroyed four bridges on the main north-south coastal highway during the morning rush hour at the port city of Jounieh, a picturesque tourist resort on the Mediterranean 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) north of Beirut, and areas further north. Casualties were in moving vehicles or neighboring houses, the security officials said.

Meanwhile, Arab foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting Monday in Beirut to support Lebanon, Arab League Deputy Secretary-General Ahmed Ben Helli said yesterday. “The meeting of Arab foreign ministers will take place next Monday in Beirut. It will be a follow-up of the session which took place in Cairo on July 15,” he said.