Dozens killed in Lebanon air raid

[Lahori paa jee]

More than 40 people, including 20 children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on the southern Lebanese town of Qana.
Displaced families had been sheltering in the basement of a site which was crushed after a direct hit.

The US secretary of state has cancelled a visit to Lebanon as its prime minister says he will only discuss a full and immediate ceasefire.

Hundreds of protesters are staging a violent demonstration in Beirut.

An angry crowd is attacking the UN building, chanting slogans against the US and in support of Hezbollah.

"People are fed up in Lebanon," a protester told the BBC. "They are fed up."

Israel said the Shia militant group was responsible for the Qana strike, by using the town to launch rockets.

But Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced Israel's "heinous crimes against civilians", and said there was "no room on this sad morning" for talks until Israel had halted its attacks.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life.

"We are also pushing for an urgent end to the current hostilities, but the views of the parties on how to achieve this are different," she said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier that Israel was not in a hurry to agree to a ceasefire until it achieved its goals in the area.

'Stop'

Witnesses said the early-morning strike flattened several sites on top of sleeping residents.

One survivor said the "bombing was so intense that no-one could move".

Reliable casualty figures are not yet clear, but reports said more than 40 had been killed, while sources in the Lebanese Red Cross said as many as 50 or 60 had lost their lives.

Elderly, women and children were among those killed in the raid, which wrought destruction over a wide area.

The BBC's Fergal Keane at the scene saw two small boys pulled from the rubble.

Reporters spoke of survivors screaming in grief and anger, as some scrabbled through the debris with bare hands.

"We want this to stop," a villager shouted.

"May God have mercy on the children. They came here to escape the fighting."

Israel's military said it had warned residents of Qana to leave and Hezbollah bore responsibility for using it to fire rockets at the Jewish state.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Qana says many did not have the means - or were too frightened - to flee.

Correspondents say the town holds bitter memories for the Lebanese.

Qana was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah.

Before Sunday's attack, the UN said some 600 people - about a third of them children - had been killed by Israeli action in Lebanon since their operations began 19 days ago.

A total of 51 Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict, sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid earlier in July.

Source

 

[Averroes]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5228554.stm

In realms of biblical narrative, some believe it to be the scene of Jesus Christ's first miracle, turning water into wine during the wedding at Cana of Galilee.

In modern times, it was the scene of one of the bloodiest events of the modern Arab-Israeli conflict, the Israeli shelling of a UN base sheltering Lebanese civilians 10 years ago.

International shock at those deaths - more than 100, and another 100 injured - led to huge pressure for a ceasefire deal bringing an end to Israel's last sustained military operation against Hezbollah militants, codenamed Operation Grapes of Wrath.

The Qana Massacre, as it is known in Lebanon, remains a powerful symbol for Lebanese people of what they say is Israel's indiscriminate and disproportionate response to Hezbollah's rocket attacks.

'No accident'

Israel still insists the 1996 shelling was an accident and that its forces had a legitimate militant target - a Hezbollah military unit that had fired mortars and rockets from near the Qana base.

Then, as now, Israel accused Hezbollah of using the civilian population as human shields when they launched their attacks.

However, a UN investigation reported in May 1996 that the deaths at the Qana base were unlikely to have been the result of an accident as claimed by the Israelis.

The UN report cited the repeated use of airburst shells over the small UN compound, which sent down a deadly torrent of shrapnel that caused terrible injuries among the unprotected civilians.

The UN also noted the presence of Israeli helicopters and a drone in the skies over Qana which must have witnessed the bloodbath.

 

[Neo]

Its confirmed that the building was a shelter housing some 65 people. 54 bodies have been counted sofar, mostly women and children.

Israeli spokes women on tv cliamed that is was a mistake...a US made precision guided bomb missed the target and hit this building!

Congrats Israel and US, way to go!

 

[Neo]

34 youths among 56 dead in Israeli strike


QANA, Lebanon - Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing at least 56, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed "great sorrow" for the airstrikes but blamed Hezbollah guerrillas for using the area to launch rockets at Israel, and said he would not halt the army's operation.

The Lebanese Red Cross said the airstrike in Qana, in which at least 34 children were killed, pushed the overall Lebanese death toll to more than 500. Secretary of State Condolezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon in a setback for diplomatic efforts to end hostilities. She was to return to the U.S. Monday morning, abruptly breaking off her diplomatic mission in the Mideast.

Before the airstrike, Olmert told Rice he needed 10-14 days to finish the offensive in Lebanon, according to a senior Israeli government official. The two said they would meet again Sunday evening.

"We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents this morning," Olmert said said during Israel's weekly Cabinet meeting, according to a participant in the meeting. "We will continue the activity and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan called an emergency Security Council meeting Sunday at the request of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora
The council was expected to discuss a French-sponsored draft resolution spelling out a series of steps meant to resolve the crisis, including an immediate halt to fighting.

Rice said she had called Saniora to postpone her visit to Lebanon; angry Lebanese officials said it was their government that called off the meeting.
Israeli said it targeted Qana because it was a base for hundreds of rockets launched at Israeli, including 40 that injured five Israelis on Sunday. Israel said it had warned civilians several days before to leave the village.

"One must understand the Hezbollah is using their own civilian population as human shields," said Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir. "The Israeli defense forces dropped leaflets and warned the civilian population to leave the place because the Hezbollah turned it into a war zone."

Rescuers aided by villagers dug through the rubble by hand. At least 20 bodies wrapped in white sheets were taken away, including 10 children. A row of houses lay in ruins, and an old woman was carried away on a plastic chair.
Villagers said many of the dead were from four families who had taken refuge in on the ground floor of a three-story building, believing they would be safe from bombings.

"We want this to stop!" shouted Mohammed Ismail, a middle-aged man pulling away at the rubble in search for bodies, his brown pants covered in dust. "May God have mercy on the children. They came here to escape the fighting."
"They are hitting children to bring the fighters to their knees," he said.
Rice said she was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of innocent life" in Israel's attack. But she did not call for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militias.

"We all recognize this kind of warfare is extremely difficult," Rice said, noting it comes in areas where civilians live. "It unfortunately has awful consequences sometimes."
"We want a cease-fire as soon as possible," she added.

The United States and Israel are pressing for a settlement that addresses enduring issues between Lebanon and Israel and disables Hezbollah — not the quick truce favored by most world leaders.

Saniora said Lebanon would be open only to an immediate cease-fire.
"There is no place at this sad moment for any discussions other than an immediate and unconditional cease-fire as well as international investigation of the Israeli massacres in Lebanon now," he told reporters Sunday.

More than 5,000 people protested in central Beirut, denouncing Israel and the United States, some chanting, "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv." A few broke car windows and tried briefly to break into the main U.N. building until political leaders called for a halt to damage.

Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr questioned Israel's claim that Hezbollah fired rockets from the village. "What do you expect Israel to say? Will it say that it killed 40 children and women?" he told Al-Jazeera television.
Qana, in the hills east of the southern port city of Tyre, has a bloody history. In 1996, Israeli artillery killed more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge at a U.N. base in the village. That attack sparked an international outcry that helped end an Israeli offensive.
Sunday's attack drew swift condemnation from several world leaders.
French President Jaques Jirac's office said "France condemns this unjustifiable action, which shows more than ever the need to move toward an immediate cease-fire."

Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned "the ugly crime perpetrated by Israeli forces in Qana."

Lebanese officials said most of their citizens slain in the conflict have been civilians. Thirty-three Israeli soldiers have died, and Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern Israel have killed 18 civilians.

Fighting also broke out between guerrillas and Israeli soldiers in a zone called the Taibeh Project area, about 2 miles inside Lebanon. The Israeli army said one soldier was wounded. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV claimed two Israeli soldiers were killed.

Heavy artillery rained down on the villages of Yuhmor and Arnoun, close to Taibeh. In northern Israel, rockets fell on Nahariya, Kiryat Shemona and an area close to Maalot, the army said.

Israel has said it would launch a series of limited ground incursions into Lebanon to push back guerrillas, rather than carry out a full-fledged invasion. Israeli troops pulled back Saturday from the town of Bint Jbail, suggesting the thrust, launched a week ago, had halted.

But Lebanese officials reported a massing of troops and 12 tanks near the Israeli town of Metulla further to the northeast, on the tip of the Galilee Panhandle near the Golan Heights, suggesting another incursion could begin soon.

The Security Council has yet to take a stance on the fighting, in part because the United States has not called for a cessation of hostilities.
The French draft circulated also seeks a wide new buffer zone in south Lebanon free of Israeli and Hezbollah forces and monitored by international forces and the Lebanese army.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the strike on Qana was a "tragedy" but stopped short of calling for a cease-fire.
A peace package Rice brought to the region called for a U.N.-mandated multinational force that can help stabilize in the region, according to a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

It also proposes: disarming Hezbollah and integrating the guerrilla force into the Lebanese army; Hezbollah's return of Israeli prisoners; a buffer zone in southern Lebanon to put Hezbollah rockets out of range of Israel; a commitment to resolve the status of a piece of land held by Israel and claimed by Lebanon; and the creation of an international reconstruction plan for Lebanon.
The latter two provisions resembled parts of a proposal by Lebanon's government. But they fell short of Hezbollah's demands, including a prisoner swap to free Lebanese held for years in Israeli prisons and the disputed land, known as Chebaa farms, put under U.N. supervision until its status can be resolved.

 

[Neo]

Rice unwelcome in Beirut after Israeli attack

By Sharmila Devi in Jerusalem and William Wallis in Beirut

Published: July 30 2006

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, cancelled a visit to Beirut and stayed in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying she would work towards a ceasefire after Israel bombed a village in Qana in southern Lebanon and killed more than 40 civilians.

Fouad Siniora, Lebanon’s prime minister, said he did not want her to come to his country, saying that after the air strike, he could not hold any talks on resolving the crisis before an immediate ceasefire.

There was immediate international condemnation of the Qana bombing, increasing pressure on the US and its staunch ally Israel, which have so far resisted calls for an immediate ceasefire in the 19-day offensive against the Hizbollah movement in Lebanon.

A crowd of Lebanese protestors gathered outside the UN headquarters in central Beirut, brandishing the Lebanese flag as well as images of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hizbollah guerrillas fighting Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. The demonstrators shouted “Death to Israel” and “Death to the US”.

Israel said it was unaware that civilians were in the building bombed in Qana and that it would continue its offensive. Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, was quoted as telling his cabinet: “We will not blink in front of Hizbollah and we will not stop the offensive despite the difficult circumstances. It is the right thing to do.”

Ms Rice said she was “deeply saddened” by the bombing but stopped short of a call for an immediate end to hostilities. She reiterated Washington’s stance that a ceasefire could not mean a return to the status quo ante, meaning Hizbollah would have to be disarmed.

Margaret Beckett, British foreign secretary, said London had “repeatedly urged Israel to act proportionately”. Jacques Chirac, French president, said the incident proved the need for an immediate ceasefire.

There was also condemnation from moderate Arab regimes, which are under pressure from populations increasingly angry over Israel’s actions. King Abdullah of Jordan called the Qana bombing “criminal aggression” that was against all “international statues”. A statement from the office of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian president, expressed “profound alarm”.

Lebanon’s health minister said the overall death toll from the conflict was around 750. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed in the conflict, which started after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a raid on July 12.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2c43908a-1fb0-11db-9913-0000779e2340.html

 

[Neo]

U.S.-Lebanon talks canceled; Rice returning to Washington

Emergency U.N. meeting Sunday on Mideast crisis


Sunday, July 30, 2006

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled talks in Beirut and plans to leave Jerusalem for Washington, after Israeli airstrikes Sunday killed dozens of women and children, senior State Department officials said.

The United Nations Security Council was to hold an emergency session on the growing Mideast crisis at 11 a.m. ET Sunday, U.N. officials said.

Rice, who told reporters "my work is here" in Jerusalem, was to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Sunday night before her return on Monday to the United States, where a U.S.-UK proposed cease-fire resolution was taking shape at United Nation's headquarters.

A draft resolution circulating among Security Council members calls for an immediate halt to fighting and a new buffer zone in south Lebanon monitored by international forces and the Lebanese army.

Rice earlier Sunday met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
Israel has expressed deep regret about Sunday's bombing in Qana, Lebanon, calling it a "tragedy" and a "mistake."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the attack has halted any talks about a resolution to the fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia.

Siniora also called for an immediate, unconditional cease-fire and an international probe of the attack.

"Out of respect for the souls of our innocent martyrs and the remains of our children buried under the rubble of Qana, we scream out to our fellow Lebanese and to other Arab brothers and to the whole world to stand united in the face of the Israeli war criminals," Siniora said in an impassioned television address Sunday morning.

Hezbollah representatives had given Siniora approval to negotiate on their behalf with Rice, who was expected to shuttle between Jerusalem and Beirut in an effort to broker a resolution to the crisis.
A senior Lebanese official said that Lebanese government told Rice not to come.

"It is a very bad time to talk today at this very tragic moment," the official said. He said the priority is to deal with the aftermath of the attack.
The official said the attack makes it even more important to resolve the crisis.
Israel and Hezbollah have been trading attacks since July 12, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid from Lebanon.
Lebanese Internal Security Forces said Saturday that 421 people have been killed in Lebanon and 1,661 have been wounded.
In Israel, 52 people have been killed, more than half of them soldiers, and more than 1,200 have been wounded, according to Israeli officials.
"It is time to end this in a lasting way," the official said. "We have no time to waste."

 

[Owais]

At least 65 killed in Israeli blitz on Lebanon village

BEIRUT: Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village of Qana as people slept Sunday, killing over 65 people, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.

The Lebanese Red Cross said the airstrike in Qana, in which at least 37 children were killed, pushed the overall Lebanese death toll to more than 500.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon in a setback for diplomatic efforts to end hostilities.

Infuriated Lebanese officials said they had asked Rice to postpone the visit after Israel's missile strike.

But Rice said she called Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to say she would postpone the trip, and that she had work to do in Jerusalem to end the fighting.

A mob of angry demonstrators smashed into the UN building as thousands took to the streets in protest in Beirut while the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and the ruling Palestinian Islamist militant movement Hamas both vowed revenge.

 

[Owais]

UNSC holds emergency meeting over Israeli killing

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting today (Sunday) over the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, UN officials said.

Earlier, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council after the deadly Israeli bombing of the village of Qana, officials said.

Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing over 65 people, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting.

The Lebanese Red Cross said the airstrike in Qana, in which at least 34 children were killed, pushed the overall Lebanese death toll to more than 500.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Lebanon in a setback for diplomatic efforts to end hostilities.

Infuriated Lebanese officials said they had asked Rice to postpone the visit after Israel's missile strike.

But Rice said she called Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora to say she would postpone the trip, and that she had work to do in Jerusalem to end the fighting.

A mob of angry demonstrators smashed into the UN building as thousands took to the streets in protest in Beirut while the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and the ruling Palestinian Islamist militant movement Hamas both vowed revenge.

 

[Owais]

Israel air strikes near Syrian border

BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes bombed Masnaa near Syrian border adjoining Lebanon, security sources said. The border was closed after the bombartment.

While two Indian UN peacekeepers were wounded in an Israeli air raid on their post in south Lebanon, an international news agency reported on Sunday.

"Two UNIFIL troops from the Indian battalion were moderately wounded as a result of the impact of an aerial bomb in the immediate vicinity of the UNIFIL position," said the force's spokesman Milos Strugar.

He said that their observation post in Aadaysseh was damaged and the two wounded were evacuated to a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) hospital in Ibli as-Saqi.

Seven UN peacekeepers have been wounded since Israeli forces started their offensive on Lebanon on July 12.

Four UN military observers were killed earlier this week in an Israeli strike on their observation post.

 

[Owais]

Israel attacks hit Lebanon economy incurring $5b loss

BEIRUT: The losses incurred to Lebanon economy in the wake of Israeli aggression have thus far mounted to $5 billion.

From the day one, Israel army have been targeting bridges, roads, power houses, seaports, T.V. stations, Beirut airport and cellular transmission lines, which culminated into losses worth billions of dollars, while the gigantic task of reconstruction could take several years besides the huge expenditures.

In this connection, Saudi Arab has pledged an assistance of $1.5 billion, while the European Union $2.5 billion.

Analysts were of the view that the Israeli tourism industry would also take over the share of Lebanon’s devastated tourism industry, immediately following the ceasefire.

 

[Lahori paa jee]

All praise to Hezbollah for they way they have resisted Israeli might no other organisation or country in ME is capable of it. And Lebanese have been equally supportive of Hezbollah which is unprecedented

 

[A.Rahman]

Its confirmed that the building was a shelter housing some 65 people. 54 bodies have been counted sofar, mostly women and children.

Israeli spokes women on tv cliamed that is was a mistake...a US made precision guided bomb missed the target and hit this building!

Congrats Israel and US, way to go!

US is supporting Isreali terrorism by giving them bombs

 

[Bull]

Israeli terrorism...huh.

You cant blame israel for maintaining and developing a modern defence force.Blame the leboneese for not developing a strong defence force,if they had a frighting force they wud have dismantled the hizbullah after Israel withdrew.

Leboneese PM calls for ceasefire,Un calla for ceasefire and so do many other leaders..except for US/Israel and Hizbullah.

And its these three who are participating directly in the war.So why should there be a ceasefire??

Hizbullah is on the ground seeing the civilians being killed in the crossfire/accidental/deliberate bombing ,yet their hearts havent melt and so havent called for a ceasefire.So why should there be a ceasefire?

Why havent they offered the 2 soldiers back to israel even after so many lebeneese have been killed?To whom and to where does their loyality to.Is it to the leboneese or to the patrons across the border?

Why havnt the so called moderates in lebonon asked Hizbullah to give back the soldiers?,why havent they protested outside hizbullah offices?,why havent the Leboneese armed forces moved into southern Lebonon?

Hearts around the world had melt as far as in Austrailia to US have melt,but not of the hizbullahs so let the bombing continue till they melt in southern lebonon.

 

[sigatoka]

1. Hizbullah is on the ground seeing the civilians being killed in the crossfire/accidental/deliberate bombing ,yet their hearts havent melt and so havent called for a ceasefire.So why should there be a ceasefire?

2. Why havent they offered the 2 soldiers back to israel even after so many lebeneese have been killed?

1. That statement suggest that the Indian army should pull back from Kashmir because their hearts should melt seeing children, women and the elderly civilians ripped apart by bombs in Bombay? (p.s. it hurts when its ur own huh?)

2. They have in a prisoner exchange deal.

The rules of war does not permit murdering hundreds of civilians and destroying their homes and livelihood, it is irrelevant who commits such crimes, whether Al-Qaeda or Israel. However the practicalities of this world suggest that Israelis and american's are above being convicted of war crimes even when committing them.

 

[Bull]

1. That statement suggest that the Indian army should pull back from Kashmir because their hearts should melt seeing children, women and the elderly civilians ripped apart by bombs in Bombay? (p.s. it hurts when its ur own huh?)

2. They have in a prisoner exchange deal.

The rules of war does not permit murdering hundreds of civilians and destroying their homes and livelihood, it is irrelevant who commits such crimes, whether Al-Qaeda or Israel. However the practicalities of this world suggest that Israelis and american's are above being convicted of war crimes even when committing them.

Good post.

But my point was that there is no need for a ceasefire as the warring factions havnt called for it.