Israeli Air Force Hits Beirut Suburbs
The IAF attacked the Hezbollah-controlled areas of the Southern Beirut suburbs for the first time in more than a week today. They also appear to be committing even more ground troops into Lebanon.
BOURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon - Israeli war planes renewed strikes against Beirut's southern suburbs on Thursday for the first time in nearly a week and an Israeli missile killed three in a border village, a day after Hezbollah launched its biggest rocket attacks yet against Israel.
Three weeks into the conflict, six Israeli brigades — or roughly 10,000 troops — were locked in fighting with hundreds of Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, and the battle looked likely to be bitter and long.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said more than 900 people had been killed and 3,000 injured in the fighting, though did not say whether the new figure — up from 548 confirmed dead — included those missing.
More than 1 million people — a quarter of Lebanon's population — had been displaced, he said, adding the fighting "is taking an enormous toll on human life and infrastructure, and has totally ravaged our country and shattered our economy."
Although diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting have thus far faltered, diplomats said the United States and France were working on two U.N. resolutions to overcome the impasse.
The first resolution would call for an immediate cease-fire and lay out political principles for a long-term settlement of the dispute, while the second would deal with deploying an international force to secure the border between Lebanon and Israel and other long-term issues.
Diplomats said the key elements in that framework include halting the fighting, disarming Hezbollah, deploying peacekeepers and creating a buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops.
Up to this point, the U.S. has opposed an immediate cease-fire without simultaneous steps to deploy peacekeepers and tackle Hezbollah's disarmament. France, on the other hand, has insisted that the fighting be halted first to pave the way for a wider peace.
The Israeli army said its soldiers had taken up positions in or near 11 towns and villages across south Lebanon as they try to carve out a 5-mile-wide Hezbollah-free zone ahead of what it hopes will be a speedy deployment of a multinational force there.
Most of the villages are close to the Israel-Lebanon border; the one deepest inside Lebanon, Majdel Zoun, is about four miles from the frontier. However, many tanks pushed even further north, controlling open areas from higher ground, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the operation.
Israel is going to run up against a ceasefire imposed on it soon. They are running out of time to beat Hezbollah sufficiently to cripple that organization militarily.
