2 U.N. Peacekeepers Killed In Lebanon
Two More Feared Dead After Israel Hits Observation Post
(CBS News) JERUSALEM An Israeli bomb destroyed a U.N. observer post on the border in southern Lebanon, killing two peacekeepers and leaving two others feared dead in what appeared to be a deliberate strike, U.N. chief Kofi Annan said.
The bomb made a direct hit on the building and shelter of the observer post in the town of Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL.
Annan issued a statement saying two U.N. military observers were killed with two more feared dead. Earlier, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the Security Council was informed that four officers were killed, but he had no other information.
Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble, but Israeli firing “continued even during the rescue operation,” Struger said.
As reports of the attack emerged, Annan rushed out of a hotel in Rome following a dinner with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.
"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defense Forces of a U.N. Observer post in southern Lebanon," Annan said in the statement.
Annan also said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would not be attacked.
"I call on the goverment of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on U.N. positions and personnel must stop," Annan said in the statement.
U.N. officials said four observers were in the post when the bomb hit, and the building had been destroyed. Two bodies had been recovered and two were unaccounted for, apparently still in the rubble. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Since Israel launched a massive military offensive against Lebanon and Hezbollah guerrillas July 12, an international civilian employee working with UNIFIL and his wife have been killed in the crossfire between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas in the southern port city of Tyre.
Five UNIFIL soldiers and one military observer have also been wounded, Struger said.
The strike comes just hours after the departure of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from the Mideast as Israel resumed its bombings of Beirut, while Hezbollah continued its rocket attacks into northern Israeli cities.
A series of at least four heavy blasts were heard in Beirut, the first Israeli strikes in the city in nearly two days. A grey cloud billowed up from the capital's southern district, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been heavily bombarded.
But there were no reports of casualties, and there may not have been any casualties, reports CBS News' Vicki Barker. The neighborhood hit has been bombed so often in the past two weeks that most of the residents have fled, many now camping out at schools and public parks.
Israeli troops sealed off a Hezbollah stronghold in fierce fighting in south Lebanon and warplanes struck the market city of Tyre Tuesday, killing six people.
Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsh told CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan that he didn’t feel any political pressure to stop anytime soon.
"We have plenty of time, and I intend to use it. As long as it takes," he said.
An official with the U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of operations in Lebanon, says the Israelis believe there are 1,000 hard-core Hezbollah and 2,000 to 3,000 part-time fighters that still have to be rooted out of southern Lebanon, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin. They expect the incursion to take another two weeks.
More than 424 people have been reported killed in Lebanon and Israel since fighting broke out July 12.
Israeli military said it had killed at least 40 Hezbollah guerrillas in what it calls the "capital of terror" in southern Lebanon, Bint Jbeil. Armored brigade commander Col. Amnon Eshel Assulin, told the Jerusalem Post that the operation proves the army's ability to reach any location in Lebanon, even Beirut, if Israel decides to enter the Lebanese capital.
A 15-year-old girl in the Arab town of Maghar was killed and at least 23 others were injured by a Hezbollah rocket, while at least five people were injured in Haifa, one seriously and two moderately. One rocket hit a bus, but only the driver was aboard at the time. One Haifa man died of a heart attack after a rocket landed near his home, medics said. Israel Radio said the man was running toward a bomb shelter when he collapsed.
Most shops and businesses in Haifa remain closed, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger. An eight-story apartment building was destroyed by a Hezbollah rocket Tuesday.
Rockets also hit the towns of Kiryat Shemona, Nahariya, Tiberias, Acre and Safed.
Israel claimed its planes had destroyed the Katyusha launcher that had fired Tuesday's rockets at Haifa.
Rice, leading the first high-level U.S. diplomatic mission since war broke out in Lebanon, said Tuesday the time has come for a new Middle East and an urgent end to the violence hanging over the region.
"I have no doubt there are those who wish to strangle a democratic and sovereign Lebanon in its crib," Rice said. "We, of course, also urgently want to end the violence."
Standing beside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as they prepared to meet in his office, Rice reiterated the United States position that a cessation of hostilities in Lebanon must come with conditions that make an enduring peace. She said she has "no desire" to be back in weeks or months after terrorists find another way to disrupt any potential cease fire.
Olmert welcomed Rice warmly and vowed that "Israel is determined to carry on this fight against Hezbollah." He said his government "will not hesitate to take severe measures against those who are aiming thousands of rockets and missiles against innocent civilians for the sole purpose of killing them."
Later, Olmert told a group of new immigrants from France that Israel has the stamina for a long fight and is determined to defeat Hezbollah.
After meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later Tuesday, Rice said, "We need to get to a sustainable peace; there must be a way for people to reconcile their differences."
Rice, who has disappointed some U.S. allies with her support of Israel, also met Tuesday with Peretz. Rice made no public remarks after her meetings with Olmert and Peretz.
But Peretz said Israel still has U.S. support, reports CBS News correspondent Dan Raviv.
"We want to defend our citizens, and we have broad international support ... We have no desire to open a war against Syria," Peretz said.
Syria's military is at its highest state of alert in recent years, Israel's intelligence chief told a parliamentary committee, but it's a defensive mode. Major General Amos Yadlin said "neither Syria nor Israel are interested in a military clash," but Hezbollah would like to involve Syria.
The Bush administration has said it wants to address the overall threat from Hezbollah, a Shiite militia in Lebanon, by creating conditions that will give the weak Lebanese government control over its entire territory, including south Lebanon, which is under Hezbollah control.
In a brazen July 12 raid into northern Israel, Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others, provoking Israel's biggest military campaign against Lebanon in 24 years. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets at northern Israeli communities.
Israeli forces have been hammering Gaza to the south since shortly after the June 25 capture of an Israeli soldier by militants linked to Hamas group. The subsequent turmoil has highlighted the weakness of Abbas, a moderate whose Fatah party lost parliamentary elections to Hamas in January.
Both Hamas and Hezbollah have said the two attacks were not connected. Israel has responded with force on both fronts. The U.S. has insisted it will not support an immediate cease-fire if the conditions behind the fighting aren't addressed.
2 U.N. Peacekeepers Killed In Lebanon
