Hezbollah strongholds targeted
2006-07-25 07:21
Beirut - Missiles struck a house in southern Lebanon early on Tuesday and killed seven people, officials said, as Israeli troops backed by tanks battled their way to Hezbollah strongholds.
The strike came as US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was in Israel to push a blanket plan that would call for a ceasefire simultaneous with the deployment of international and Lebanese troops into southern Lebanon to prevent Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
After her first stop in Beirut on Monday, Hezbollah's de facto negotiator, parliament speaker Nabih Berri, rejected the idea and said a ceasefire should be immediate, leaving the other issues for much later.
Destruction
Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora took a similar stance and complained bitterly to Rice about the destruction wreaked by US ally Israel.
Israel "is taking Lebanon backward 50 years and the result will be Lebanon's destruction," he told Rice, the prime minister's office said.
After arriving in Israel, Rice defended the need to ensure Hezbollah is dislodged from the border before any ceasefire is reached.
"Every peace has to be based on enduring principles," she said.
Humanitarian aid
The UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland has issued an urgent appeal for $150m in aid to Lebanon as the relief effort geared up.
Two ships docked at Beirut and convoys entered from Syria, bearing blankets, food, medicine, while two convoys of trucks took material to the worst hit areas in the south along dangerous and broken roads.
No strikes on Beirut
Israel appeared to be easing bombardment in populated areas and roads in Lebanon that has killed hundreds, displaced as many as 750 000 and dismembered the transportation network. Instead, it appeared to be focusing its firepower on Hezbollah at the front.
Beirut saw no strikes all day on Monday in apparent deference to Rice's visit.
Lebanese security officials reported three civilian deaths, without specifying where they occurred. Thirty strikes in and around towns and on roads were reported on Monday by security officials and Lebanese media - down from 37 the day before.
The numbers do not include strikes on Hezbollah positions that are not in populated areas. Israel reported 270 strikes on Sunday, suggesting that a large number were in more isolated regions.
Still, Hezbollah was able to launch 80 rockets into northern Israel on Monday, wounding 13 people lightly, a rate only slightly lower than in past days.
House targeted
Israeli bombardment hit the southern cities of Tyre and Nabatiyeh. An Israeli shell crashed into a house near the Lebanese town of Marjayoun late on Monday, wounding two children, witnesses said.
Tuesday's air strike targeted a house in Nabatiyeh, killing its owner, a man named Mohammed Ghandour, and six other people including his son Hassan. It was not immediate clear if the five others killed were related. One woman was also wounded, according to hospital and security officials.
- AP