Israel, the mid-east, and Russia - Part 2

[Shammu]

Israel to Lebanon: No to ceasefire

Senior state official says, 'only if two goals Israel has set for itself – removing and disarming Hizbullah and returning kidnapped soldiers – are realized, there will be point to discuss Lebanese offer.' Government set to convene Sunday morning for first time since deciding on IDF's operation in Lebanon
Ronny Sofer

The Lebanese prime minister offered Saturday evening to deploy his army on Lebanon's southern border in exchange for a ceasefire, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not plan to accept his offer.

Fouad Siniora offered to deploy the forces along the international border with Israel according to UN Resolution 1559, but Israeli officials reject the offer claiming that Israel will continue its operation against the kidnappers in Lebanon until the two kidnapped soldiers are released.

On Sunday morning, the government is expected to discuss the developments in the Lebanon operation, which is now called Operation Change of Direction.

The ministers are also set to discuss Siniora's offer. If the situation does not change, the prime minister is expected to explain to his ministers that at this stage it is still early to declare a ceasefire.

"Only if the two goals which Israel has set for itself – removing Hizbullah and disarming it, including rockets, and returning the kidnapped soldiers – there will be a point in discussion the Lebanese offer," a senior state official said.

"In the meantime, as long as we are still talking about initial declarations, Israel will continue its military operation against Hizbullah and targets inside Lebanon, in order to make it clear that our intentions are serious. One must not forget that the latest escalation is the result of an attack which came from the territory of a sovereign country, a provocation which Lebanon's government is responsible for," the official explained.

Special situation: Between Olmert and Peretz

Another discussion is expected in the cabinet meeting Sunday on Defense Minister Amir Peretz's plan to extend the validity of his order to declare a "special situation in the north."

An associate of the prime minister expressed his surprise over the issue, which enables the defense minister, the army chief or the Home Front Command chief to shut down schools, operate essential industries, close certain areas for traffic, operate commerce zones, etc. The aide hinted that the prime minister was unaware of Peretz's plan to apply the "special situation" starting Saturday evening.

The IDF chief of staff, the Mossad chief and the head of the General Staff Operations Branch are expected to brief the minister on the developments in the past few days since the operation on the northern border began.

Major-General Gadi Eizenkot, head of the General Staff Operations Branch, is expected to tell the ministers what he already said Saturday evening, that Hizbullah has fired about 700 rockets toward Israel so far.

The intelligence chiefs are expected to report to the ministers of the weapons Hizbullag possesses, which may be "the next surprise" for the Israeli home front. In addition, the army chief is expected to report of the efforts to locate the three sailors who went missing after a Navy missile boat was attacked off the shores of Beirut.

The foreign and defense ministers are expected to brief their colleagues on the moves taken so far. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will report of the moves to prevent a condemnation of Israel's operation at the Security Council and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plan to send a mediating delegation to the region.

Livni will also report that in spite of the growing criticism in the world, mainly regarding the damage caused to civil infrastructures in Lebanon, Israel is still backed for its moves, which are considered a right for self-defense against Hizbullah, which is considered a terror organization.

Minister Livni is expected to report of the instructions given to Israel's delegations in the world to expand their efforts through the media to raise support for Israel's operation in Lebanon.

Israel to Lebanon: No to ceasefire

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Mona Charen: Attacks on Israel continue without end
Seeing what Palestinians have become, it's hard to believe that their goal is peace.

Mona Charen Columnist
Israel is fighting a two-front war after both Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon attacked across international frontiers. We await denunciations of these acts of aggression from the United Nations Security Council, the European Union or human rights organizations. Denunciations of Israel, of course, are swift. The United States vetoed a proposed Security Council resolution condemning Israel.

As if taking orders directly from Tehran, Amnesty International condemned Israel for striking at Lebanon. Amnesty also called upon Hezbollah to treat the two IDF soldiers it kidnapped humanely -- but did not call upon Hezbollah to release them.

The Washington Post provided a chart Thursday labeled "Events that led to the military escalation in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon." Under "Gaza," the Post starts with the swearing in of the Hamas government on March 29. Fair enough. But the next item is "June 9: Explosion kills seven members of a Gaza family. Witnesses blame Israeli artillery, but Israel denies it." Missing is any reference to the nonstop shelling of Israel from the Gaza strip that began in 2005: Nearly 3,000 rockets have been fired into Israel.

And why? If you believe the conventional wisdom about the conflict, then getting Israeli "occupying" forces out of Gaza (and the West Bank) was exactly what the Palestinians most fervently wished to achieve. The occupation, they ceaselessly wailed, was what kept them from a decent life, from economic advancement, from dignity and from peace. When Israel, for its own reasons, elected to accommodate them and withdrew from Gaza (uprooting Israeli settlers in the process), the Palestinian moment should have dawned.

Instead of starting to build a "secular democratic state," Palestinians began attacking Israel across the border. Strange behavior for people whose supposed goal was an independent state living side by side with Israel. But not so strange if the Palestinians' goal is actually to eliminate the Jewish state -- as the Hamas movement, winner of the last election, is pledged to do. (That's why many hardheaded Israelis believe withdrawal from Gaza was a mistake. The Palestinians interpreted it as a sign of weakness.)

Anyone who has watched what the Palestinians have become over the past quarter-century could not be deluded into believing that their goal was peace. Under the thugocracy of Yasser Arafat, and aided by the Islamic radicals, the Palestinians (and Arabs generally) have been steeped in the most bitter hatred one people can feel for another.

Another piece of conventional wisdom that cannot stand up to the weight of recent events is the notion that Sunnis and Shiites will never cooperate. While it is true that a low-grade civil war is now underway between the two groups in Baghdad, the Shiites in Lebanon (who serve Iran) seem to be having no difficulty working with the Sunnis in Gaza. There are rumors that Shiite Iran is harboring Sunni Osama bin Laden. What could draw these traditional foes into one another's arms? Only a common enemy.

Mona Charen: Attacks on Israel continue without end

[Shammu]

Watch what’s happening to Israel

The visibility of only one kind of news creates one kind of impression. The current action of Israel in Gaza is being viewed largely out of context because there is little or no knowledge of what has been happening to Israel.

Most people do not make a point of reading opinions written by Charles Krauthammer. His June 19 column mentioned that there were 1,000 rockets launched from Gaza into Israel during the last year, primarily at the civilians in the town Sderot. Few newspapers report those attacks (the Atlanta paper does).

The Israel news reports daily incidents of terrorist action at www.arutzsheva.com. Daily viewing should be mandatory for those who only see one side. I wonder how people would like it if they had to risk almost daily attacks by rocks being tossed at their cars as they drove. Thank goodness the threat of suicide attacks has been diminished by the construction of the security fence.

One must reserve some feeling for the citizens represented by a government of a country that makes no effort to catch or jail terrorists who operate against another country because that government puts them at risk for a response from the country that has been victimized.

One must also express sorrow for the citizens of a country that sends millions of dollars per month to support the widow and daughter of the late Yasser Arafat so that they can live in luxury and spends proportionally less on their own infrastructure.

[Shammu]

If Israel falters: U.S. must stand by our one true ally

THESE ARE perilous times in the Mideast and our government needs to make it crystal clear that America will stand by Israel, its one true democratic ally there.

It ought to be plain to all the world that what is happening now is a concerted effort by Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors — particularly Iran — to destroy Israel and end any hope for true freedom in the region.

Israel has tried everything to live in peace while protecting its tiny homeland. Its efforts to trade land for peace have only emboldened its enemies, who are now able to launch more powerful and longer-range rockets from ever-closer bases.

Israel has built an oasis of peace and freedom and free enterprise in the desert. The United States must not succumb to those who would have us trade our ally for oil or the approval of anti-Semites and Islamic extremists. If Israel is weakened, we can forget about dreams of a free Iraq. In fact, we can forget about anything but an even bleaker struggle for ourselves and a bleaker future for our Judeo-Christrian culture.

As columnist Charles Krauthammer points out on the opposite page, the terrorist charges against Israel are lies told to cover their Hitlerian agenda. Their goal is to destroy Israel and, if possible, every last Jew on Earth. They will not stop until Israel is only a memory, and perhaps not even then. Their ideological kinsmen slaughtered nearly 3,000 in our own country not five years ago, and there is no reason to believe that these maniacs will stop with the destruction of Israel.

Americans fought nobly to end Nazi terror not so long ago. How can so many Americans — and Europeans, whose grandfathers were crushed under German tank treads — simply shrug as this new army of barbarians attempts a second Holocaust?

If Israel falters: U.S. must stand by our one true ally

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US forces won't go to Lebanon
From correspondents in Washington
16-07-2006
From: Agence France-Presse
 

THE US military is unlikely to enter the widening conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, a senior State Department official said Saturday.
"We don't expect that would happen," David Welch, US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, told CNN when asked at what point US troops would get involved.

"The Israelis are fully competent to defend themselves, which they are doing right now. I don't expect there's going to be any requirement for the United States forces," said Welch, speaking from the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Israel on Saturday showed no sign of reining in its relentless bombardment of Lebanon, killing 18 people in an airstrike on a convoy of fleeing families and destroying the Beirut headquarters of the Hezbollah leader.

The death toll mounted further, with at least 100 now killed on both sides since the conflict erupted following the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a Hezbollah raid on Wednesday.

Welch said the Beirut government was well-intentioned but unable to rein in Hezbollah. He reiterated US concern that the conflict could damage Lebanon's fragile democracy.

"You have a government here that, were it in their power, would do the right thing. We're asking them to exercise their authority in the south, but they are unable to do so because this area is controlled by the Hezbollah militia," Welch said.

"One key concern of ours is that the government of Lebanon, which is democratically elected, ought to remain in power. We are concerned about that. Frankly, I think the prime minister is doing a really good job under the very difficult circumstances."

US President George W. Bush called Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Friday, expressing support for the government and pledging to press Israel to limit the damage caused by its offensive, a Lebanese government statement said.

"President Bush asserted that he will exert pressure on Israel to limit damage inflicted on Lebanon through the ongoing military operation," according to the statement from Siniora's office.

It said Bush vowed to help Lebanese civilians and "innocent people."

US forces won't go to Lebanon

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Israeli ambassador refuses to rule out strikes against Iran
By Nicholas Kralev
The Washington Times

Israel's ambassador to Washington said yesterday that Iran and Syria are "playing with fire" and "will bear the consequences" if Hezbollah transfers two kidnapped Israeli soldiers to either of its patron nations.
   
Ambassador Daniel Ayalon did not rule out retaliatory strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, though other Israeli officials said that was not being planned.
   
Fears mounted that Israel's military offensive against southern Lebanon could spread to other countries after Israeli officials said yesterday they had received indications that Hezbollah was trying to move two captive Israeli soldiers to Iran.
   
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also expressed concern that the soldiers could be moved out of Lebanon.
   
The department last night authorized the departure from Beirut of U.S. Embassy family members, as well as nonessential personnel.
   
Asked during a luncheon at the National Press Club whether Israel might respond to such a step with strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, Mr. Ayalon said he did not want to discuss "operational details."
   
But, he said, Iran and Syria both "are playing with fire and will bear the consequences" for any assistance they give Hezbollah in holding the two soldiers as hostages.
   
Another Israeli official said privately that there were no immediate plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, although the country previously has hinted at such action and has armed itself with aircraft capable of mounting such a strike.
   
Israeli analysts suggested that Israel was more likely to strike next at Syria, which backs Hezbollah and hosts the Hamas leader blamed for the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip.
   
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted yesterday by the Iranian news agency as saying such action against Syria would be considered an assault on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response."
   
Iran's foreign ministry also dismissed suspicions that the soldiers would be brought there as "absurdities."
   
Several analysts told The Washington Times that they thought Israeli officials were focusing on preventing Hezbollah from moving the soldiers within Lebanon or out of the country by bombing roads, bridges and airports and imposing a naval blockade.
   
"It's premature to talk about military action against Syria and Iran," one Israeli official said. "We don't want the situation to escalate more than it already has."
   
Wayne White, a former State Department intelligence official, said Israel was trying to determine how direct Iran's and Syria's involvement was in the attack.
   
"It's really unlikely that they will directly attack Tehran right now, because they will respond in a tit-for-tat," Mr. White said. "Israel's done what it's going to do for now, and it's in a stage of waiting to see how Hezbollah will respond."

Israeli Brig. Gen. Michael Herzog, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said Israel would take into account retaliatory threats to American targets when deciding whether to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.
   
"This is a very difficult decision, and I don't think that it should be made hastily, even with the urgency of the crisis that's going on right now," he said.
   
David Makovsky, also of the Washington Institute, said that an attack on Iranian interests in Lebanon is more likely than a strike on Iran.
   
"There is good reason to believe Tehran backed this, but there is no smoking gun yet," he said.
   
Researchers say that about 30 sites in Iran are involved in producing and assembling nuclear components.
   
Israel does not have the ability to strike all 30, so it likely would concentrate on major targets, such as the Russian-made Bushehr reactor and Natanz underground enrichment site.
   
For years, Israel has been buying the American weapon systems it would need to disable Iran's ample air defenses and strike multiple targets, including the Bushehr reactor on the Persian Gulf.
   
Ehud Yatom, member of the now-opposition Likud Party, said in 2003 that Iran's "nuclear facilities must be destroyed, just as we did the Iraqi reactor."
   
It was a reference to the 1981 successful strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor by two F-16s.
   
The Washington Times reported in 2004 that the Israeli air force had selected various flight plans for an attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
   
Unlike the Osirak attack, in which the Israeli jets briefly crossed Jordan's air space, this time perhaps scores of Israeli planes would have to cross broad stretches of Iraq. Israel likely would be forced to first notify the United States to ensure the planes are not shot down and to let U.S. commanders prepare for any Iranian counterattack.
   
Stephen P. Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace, said the latest crisis over the kidnapped soldiers should not be "mixed" with the nuclear issue.
   
"But if Hezbollah were to hand over the hostages to Iran, and Iran agreed to fly them to Iranian territory, it would be ... Iran's ultimate test of Israeli deterrence capability," he said.

Israeli ambassador refuses to rule out strikes against Iran

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 Iran Threatens Central Israel With Longer-Range Rockets
08:38 Jul 16, '06 / 20 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) A senior Iranian military official quoted by the London-based al-Shark al-Awsat Arabic newspaper is quoted as saying Iran has supplied Hizbullah with thousands of longer-range rockets, rockets capable of striking deeper into Central Israel.

The report states that Iran is threatening that if Israel continues the ongoing military assault in Lebanon, the rockets, some with a 150 kilometer (90 mile) range, will be fired into Israel.

The senior Iranian official also stated that dozens of Iranian experts are working in Lebanon with Hizbullah to enable them to successfully fire the rockets against Israel.

Iran Threatens Central Israel With Longer-Range Rockets

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 Russia Continues to Condemn Israel
09:20 Jul 16, '06 / 20 Tammuz 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to condemn Israel’s ongoing counter-terror offensive in Lebanon.

Putin stated that Israel seems to define her own parameters, setting objectives in addition to obtaining the return of the kidnapped soldiers.

“We must work towards resolving differences through peaceful means. However, it appears Israel has set her sights on achieving large objectives in addition to obtaining the return of the kidnapped soldiers,” stated the Russian leader.

Russia Continues to Condemn Israel

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Active map, of missles hitting northern Israel.

click the link

http://www.reliasurf.com/pics/north-israel.swf

[Soldier4Christ]

Brother Bob, I couldn't find a news article on it for you but it came across Fox News that there is an unspecified state dept intel that Hezbollah is taking their directives from Iran. As we saw earlier from the Iranian pres he believes that he is the one called by allah to instill sharia law on the entire world. It looks like he has some others convinced of that also.

[Shammu]

Iran says Hizbollah will not disarm

By Gareth Smyth in Tehran

Published: July 16 2006 19:39 | Last updated: July 16 2006 19:39

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said on Sunday that Hizbollah, a key ally of Tehran, would not disarm, despite calls from the US and Israel.

His remarks, reported by state television, came as Iran was increasingly drawn into the Middle East crisis.

“The American president says Hizbollah should be disarmed,” said Ayatollah Khamenei. “But it will not happen...The Lebanese people appreciate the resistance because their powerful limbs have been responsible for not allowing the Zionists whatever they want, whenever they want in Lebanon.”

Iranian officials earlier denied Israeli and western allegations of direct military support for Hizbollah.

Hamid Reza Asefi, foreign ministry spokesman, said no Iranian Revolutionary Guards were in Lebanon and that reports of shipments of Iranian missiles were “not correct”. But Mr Asefi also warned that aggression against Syria would bring Israel “unimaginable damages”.

Stepping up Israeli charges against Iran, Major General Udi Adam said rockets that yesterday killed eight people in the Israeli city of Haifa, 30km from the Lebanese border, were Iranian-made. Israeli officials earlier claimed an Iranian-made C-802 missile had struck an Israeli warship off Lebanon on Friday, killing four sailors.

Iran’s media has given wide coverage to the mounting civilian deaths in Lebanon following Israeli attacks.

But yesterday there were differences between reformists in Iran, who urged caution on all sides, and conservatives, who questioned Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

“Israel has learned nothing from 40 years, and is using the same destructive methods of air and land strikes,” said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former reformist vice-president. “The big powers listen only to the voice of Israel. The region needs tranquillity, so other voices can be heard.”

Mr Abtahi, who was manager of Iranian broadcasting in Lebanon in the mid-1990s, warned “war and more tension” could complicate the stand-off between the UN Security Council and Iran over its nuclear programme.

Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, another prominent reformist, said Iran could help defuse the crisis through its longstanding relationship with Hizbollah. “The way forward is the release of prisoners on both sides, and the implementation of all UN resolutions, including Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa farms [territory on the Lebanese-Syria border claimed by Lebanon],” he said.

But conservatives argued Israel’s offensive showed the state was a lasting threat. An editorial in yesterday’s Kayhan newspaper said “Israel ought not to exist in the region”.

President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad said the Israelis’ treatment of the Palestinians and Lebanese showed them “acting like Hitler and behaving worse than Genghis Khan”. Addressing prayers in Tehran on Friday, Aya- tollah Mohammad Emami-Kashani said Islam taught that “if someone attacks, you have the right to counter-attack”.

Iran says Hizbollah will not disarm

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U.S. Says Security Council Should Delay Israel-Hezbollah Action Until U.N. Mission Returns From Mideast
Monday, July 17, 2006

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council should delay any action on the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas until a U.N. mission now in the Mideast trying to defuse the crisis returns to New York later this week, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Monday.

"I think it's very important that with events as unclear and fast-moving as they are that the Security Council not do anything to unsettle the matter further," he told reporters.

Bolton said the U.N. team led by Vijay Nambiar, the special political adviser to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, is expected to return in the middle of the week and he hoped it could brief the council on Thursday.

"That's also, I think, an appropriate time to begin to consider a step the council itself might take," he said before heading into a closed Security Council meeting for a briefing on the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting.

Nambiar, in Beirut on Monday, said he will present Israel with "concrete ideas" about ending the fighting, but also warned that "much diplomatic work needs to be done."

"We have made some promising first efforts on the way forward," he said after meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

The leaders of the Group of Eight major powers who met in Russia this weekend asked the Security Council on Sunday to consider the possibility of a U.N. force in Lebanon. Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair went a step further Monday calling for the deployment of international forces to end the fighting.

Lebanon accused the United States late Saturday of blocking a Security Council statement calling for a cease-fire. Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahmoud said the impotence of the U.N.'s most powerful body sent the wrong signal to small countries and the Arab world.

Lebanon's pro-Western government came to power following the February 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, which led to Syria's withdrawal of its forces from its smaller neighbor, ending a 29-year occupation. The Security Council has passed several resolutions promoting the full restoration of Lebanon's sovereignty and has urged it to deploy its military to the south which Hezbollah controls.

Mahmoud said the United States was "always supportive in the last 1 1/2 years, but when it comes to Israel it seems things change."

Asked why the United States did not want a cease-fire, Bolton said the question of Israel's right to self-defense has to be considered very carefully.

"I think before you get to a cease-fire you have to look at what the causes of the conflict are," he said.

"I think you would have a cease-fire in a matter of nanoseconds if Hezbollah and Hamas would release their kidnap victims and stop engaging in rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism against Israel," Bolton said.

U.S. Says Security Council Should Delay Israel-Hezbollah Action Until U.N. Mission Returns From Mideast

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Israel Softens Conditions For Cease-Fire

POSTED: 4:32 pm EDT July 17, 2006
UPDATED: 4:32 pm EDT July 17, 2006

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that the fighting in Lebanon would end when two Israeli soldiers were freed, rocket attacks stopped and the Lebanese army deployed along the border. But he appeared to scale back from previous demands for Hezbollah to be dismantled.

Delivering an impassioned speech to Israel's parliament after six days of fierce fighting, Olmert said Israel would have no mercy on militants who attacked its cities with rockets.

"We shall seek out every installation, hit every terrorist helping to attack Israeli citizens, destroy all the terrorist infrastructure, in every place. We shall continue this until Hezbollah does the basic and fair things required of it by every civilized person," he said. "Israel will not agree to live in the shadow of the threat of missiles or rockets against its residents."

Israeli officials have said publicly that Israel would not stop fighting until Hezbollah, a Shiite militia that controls much of south Lebanon, is dismantled. On Monday, Olmert said Hezbollah should be moved away from the border. His comments seemed to be a softening of Israel's earlier position, which could increase chances of a cease-fire.

"We shall struggle for the implementation of the conditions laid down by the international community ... the return of the hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, a total cease-fire, the deployment of the Lebanese army in all of south Lebanon and the removal of Hezbollah from the region," he said.

Israeli officials said earlier Monday that Olmert had conveyed Israel's position to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who is attempting to broker the cease-fire deal.

As he spoke, a U.N. delegation also trying to mediate an end to the fighting arrived in Israel from Beirut.

"We hope that we will be able to see our way toward ... a de-escalation of the crisis," said Vijay Nambiar, head of the delegation. He said he would pass on information gathered in the Lebanese capital to Israeli officials, but declined to elaborate.

The fighting began when Hezbollah kidnapped the soldiers in a cross-border raid. Since then, Israel has pounded Lebanon with airstrikes and Hezbollah has fired barrages of rockets and missiles into Israeli towns and cities.

"We are not looking for war or direct conflict, but if necessary, we will not be frightened by it," Olmert said.

He also praised the Israeli people for being strong and united in the face of the rocket bombardment that has sent about half a million Israelis into bomb shelters. He recited a Jewish prayer for the soldiers and said he had pictures of the three captured soldiers _ the two in Lebanon and another held by militants in Gaza _ in his office.

"We shall do everything with all our might to bring them home," he said, but added that Israel could not make a deal that would lead to further kidnappings.

The lengthy speech was Olmert's first major address since the fighting in Lebanon began last week.

He spoke at length about many of those killed and said that Israel was fighting for them.

"When missiles are launched at our residents and our towns, our answer will be war waged at full strength, with all determination, courage and sacrifice," he said.

Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on Monday destroyed at least one long-range Iranian missile capable of hitting Tel Aviv, military officials said.

Israeli aircraft targeted a truck carrying the weapons before they could be launched, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of military regulations. The force of the blast sent at least one missile flying into the air, but it fell nearby.

During nearly a week of fighting, Hezbollah militants have fired missiles up to 25 miles into Israel. But officials have raised concerns the guerrilla group could strike Tel Aviv, about 80 miles south of the border with Lebanon.

President Bush bluntly expressed his frustrations with Hezbollah's actions, suggesting Syria could use its influence with the guerrillas.

Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair called for sending international forces to southern Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would consider dispatching troops, and the European Union announced it was considering a peacekeeping force as well.

Overnight attacks by Israeli warplanes and big guns killed 17 people and wounded at least 53, Lebanese security officials said. The death toll since fighting began July 12 after Hezbollah captured the Israeli soldiers has climbed above 200 _ 209 in Lebanon, 24 in Israel.

Israeli government spokesman Asaf Shariv said ground troops entered southern Lebanon, attacked Hezbollah bases near the border and quickly returned inside Israel.

A large explosion was heard Monday evening across Beirut in the heavily hit southern suburbs where Hezbollah's headquarters is located. In the south, nine civilians were killed, including two children, when an afternoon strike hit a bridge at the entrance to the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanese security officials said.

An Israeli missile also targeted a building housing the offices of Al-Manar, Hezbollah television, in the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, wounding seven people.

Hezbollah Katyusha rockets landed in the Israeli town of Atlit, about 35 miles south of the border and six miles south of the port of Haifa. Nobody was hurt. Later, guerrillas fired three rocket barrages into Haifa, destroying a three-story building and wounding at least three people, Israeli medics said.

Guerrilla rockets killed eight Israelis in an attack on Haifa Sunday in what was believed to be Hezbollah's deadliest single attack on Israel.

A Lebanese TV station showed video of an object falling to the ground in the Jamjour district near the Hezbollah stronghold of southern Beirut, but the Israeli army said reports that it was an Israeli aircraft were false.

A Lebanese security official said the object was a fuel tank dropped by an Israeli aircraft over Kfar Chima, a town near southern Beirut. After it dropped the fuel tank, the aircraft fired two missiles at three cargo trucks in the area, killing four people and wounding two others, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in Lebanon overnight in retaliation for Sunday's 20-rocket barrage on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city and one that had not been hit before the latest fighting.

Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched for a kidnapped soldier, bombing the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.

Israel launched the offensive on June 25 after Hamas-linked militants carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost, killing two soldiers and capturing one. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas joined the fray last week, attacking a military patrol in northern Israel, killing eight soldiers and capturing two.

Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah had fired before.

Speaking on the margin of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Blair said the fighting would not stop until the conditions for a cease-fire were created.

"The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces that can stop bombardment coming into Israel," he said.

Annan appealed to Israel to spare civilian lives and infrastructure. The G-8 nations, who had struggled to reach a consensus on the escalating warfare between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, have expressed concern on the "rising civilian casualties" and urged both sides to stop the violence.

Bush cursed Hezbollah's actions in a discussion with Blair before the G-8 leaders began their final lunch.

"See the irony is that what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this stuff and it's over," Bush said. He also suggested that Annan call Syrian President Bashar Assad to "make something happen."

Israel Softens Conditions For Cease-Fire

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Israel is falling into Iranian trap

 

 

MK Talab El Sana (United Arab List – Ta'al) said that: "The Israeli government is falling into the trap of Iran and Syria by diverting the attention from the Iranian nuclear program and getting dragged into Lebanon."

Speaking to Ynet MK El Sana said that "This war give a 'nock out' to the efforts establishing an independent Lebanese government, weakens Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and reinforces Hizbullah."

Israel is falling into Iranian trap

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Medical center hit as barrages renewed on North

12 suffer light-to-moderate wounds and 10 treated for shock as Hizbullah rockets pummel northern communities. Residents of eastern Galilee, Rosh Pina, Carmiel, Safed, Nahariya, Haifa, Afula told to take shelter
Ahiya Raved

Sirens sounded in the eastern Galilee, Rosh Pina, Carmiel and Safed once again Monday night, and rocket barrages were fired towards communities in the eastern Galilee and Upper Galilee.

A barrage hit a medical center in the Galilee, and windows shattered in the resulting shock waves. Ten employees were reported to have suffered shock. Another rocket hit a sensitive facility and two people were lightly wounded. A fire broke out in Maalot following a rocket hit, and fire fighting crews were working to extinguish it.

In Safed, eleven people were wounded when a rocket hit the town. One of them suffered moderate wounds and the others were treated for light wounds. An additional three rockets hit open areas around Haifa area; no casualties or damage were reported.

The alarms were activated repeatedly, and residents reported hearing explosions echo through the region. Residents were told to take shelter in secure areas or bomb shelters. Sirens sent Nahariya, Haifa, Afula and valley residents into their shelters as well, but there were no reports of rockets hitting those areas.

Colonel Yehiel Cooperstein, head of the defense division of the Home Front Command, said during a press briefing Monday that there were no changes in directives to citizens: Residents living on the front lines should remain in bomb shelters, and those living north of the Akko-Amiad Junction road, as well as in Tiberias, Haifa, Nesher and Tirat Hacarmel, should take shelter in inner rooms without windows.

Residents should also avoid large gatherings and should refrain from convening youth for group activities and camp activities. To reduce the interruption of daily routine, residents can go to work as long as the workplaces have sheltered areas. Grocery stores, banks, medical centers, pharmacies, postal service and other necessary services with bomb shelters will remain open.

Monday Haifa suffered a number of barrages, and sirens sounded repeatedly throughout the afternoon. One rocket directly hit a three-storey building and severely damaged two of the floors.

Magen David Adom medics, fire fighting crews and Home Front Command rescue teams were immediately called to the site. Eleven casualties were evacuated, two of which were in moderate to serious condition, four in light condition, and five suffered shock.

Bystanders were evacuated out of concern the building would collapse.

Medical center hit as barrages renewed on North