Israel bombs Beirut airport
2006-07-13 07:16
Beirut - Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's international airport before dawn on Thursday and killed at least 27 Lebanese civilians in a series of raids after Israel vowed a harsh response to the killing and capture of its soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas.
Fighter jets swooped in on the airport, firing missiles on two runways, forcing the diversion of flights to neighbouring Cyprus and the closure of the newly renovated airport.
Lebanese police said 27 civilians, including 10 children, were also killed in a wave of Israeli attacks on the south on Thursday after the Hezbollah action that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert branded an "act of war".
Hezbollah fires at Israel
Hezbollah also claimed to have fired a volley of rockets on northern Israel early on Thursday. Israel said one woman was killed.
The killing of eight soldiers and the capture of another two by Hezbollah militants in fighting on the volatile Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday opened up a dangerous new front in the Middle East conflict.
More bombing in Gaza
Israeli warplanes also bombed the Palestinian foreign ministry in the Gaza Strip overnight in the latest offensive over the seizure of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants three weeks ago.
A total of 70 Palestinians have been killed in the military onslaught against Gaza, which the United Nations has warned is causing a humanitarian crisis in one of the most densely populated areas on earth.
World leaders have issued urgent appeals for restraint, although Israel's top ally, the United States, held Syria and Iran responsible for the fighting on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the deadliest since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon six years ago.
Hezbollah demanding release of prisoners
Hezbollah, or the Party of God, whose militia was instrumental in forcing Israeli troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, said it was demanding the release of Arab prisoners in return for the soldiers.
"They will only return home through indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said, saying the abduction was aimed at drawing international attention to the plight of "thousands of Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab detainees".
'This is an act of war'
But Olmert insisted there would be no negotiations.
"This was an act of war without any provocation on the sovereign territory... of the state of Israel," said Olmert, facing the most serious test of his leadership since his government took office in May.
On Wednesday, Israeli fighter jets, gunboats and artillery pounded Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah targets and about 10 bridges, cutting off the highway linking Beirut to the south.
After an emergency meeting, the Israeli cabinet gave the green light to unspecified retaliatory action against Lebanon, which has been mired in its own political crisis since the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and is still rebuilding after the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
"Israel must respond with the necessary severity to this act of aggression... Israel will respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action," a cabinet statement said.