Learn Chinese - Battles rage on eve of UN truce

CHINA / National

Battles rage on eve of UN truce
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-08-14 05:27

BEIRUT: Israeli troops battled Hezbollah guerrillas across southern
Lebanon yesterday on the eve of today's UN-brokered truce, and the
Israeli Government said its forces would not withdraw until a stronger
peacekeeping force arrived.

Brazilian Muslim children light candles in memory of Lebanese children
killed in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel during a rally
organized by the Lebanese community in Sao Paulo. The event, on Saturday,
called for a ceasefire by Israeli troops in Lebanon and the Palestinian
territories. [AFP]

The United Nations said Israeli and Lebanese leaders had agreed that a
truce would take effect at 0500 GMT today.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday his guerrillas
would observe a truce but reserved the right to fight Israeli soldiers
still on Lebanese soil.

Lebanon rejected initial drafts of a UN resolution to end the fighting
because they did not call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal.

The resolution approved by the Security Council on Friday calls for a
"full cessation of hostilities" and for Israel to withdraw its troops "at
the earliest." As they withdraw, 15,000 Lebanese soldiers and an expanded
international force of 15,000 foreign troops, likely to be led by France,
will be deployed.

Israel's cabinet approved the Security Council resolution yesterday but
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israeli troops would only pull out when
the international force was deployed which the UN says could take a week
to 10 days.

"Israel will leave in tandem with the deployment south of the Lebanese
army along with the international force not a situation where we see that
a Lebanese army soldier has arrived and now they tell us to leave," she
told a news conference.

Al-Arabiya television reported that seven Israeli soldiers were killed in
fighting in south Lebanon yesterday.

Saturday was the deadliest day of the month-old war for the Israeli army,
with 19 soldiers killed and five missing and feared dead after their
helicopter was shot down by Hezbollah.

Israeli aircraft attacked targets in more than 50 villages and towns,
Lebanese security sources said, killing at least six people in southern
Lebanon and seven in the Bekaa valley.

Several explosions shook Beirut and thick white smoke billowed over the
Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs. The attack destroyed 11
residential buildings.

More than 153 rockets fired by Hezbollah hit northern Israel, killing one
person and wounding 11, Israeli police said.

Israel widened its offensive on Friday despite the UN resolution. Some
30,000 Israeli troops are in Lebanon.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said fighting should end immediately to
spare civilians.

"The fighting should stop now to respect the spirit and intent of the
Security Council decision, the object of which was to save civilian
lives, to spare the pain and suffering that the civilians on both sides
are living through," Annan said.

At least 1,078 people in Lebanon and 144 Israelis, including 104
soldiers, have been killed in the war.

Analysts cautioned that a truce may not hold, particularly with Israeli
troops still in Lebanon.

"I think this talk of a ceasefire going into effect tomorrow seems to be
highly exaggerated and dubious," said Mouin Rabbani, senior Middle East
analyst with the International Crisis Group.

"It seems that Israel's strategy has been to establish positions as far
north as possible to implement a fighting withdrawal, meaning that they
will try to take on as much of Hezbollah as they can as they work their
way south."

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the Israeli Government was
willing to discuss a possible release of Hezbollah prisoners in exchange
for the freeing of two Israeli soldiers whose capture on July 12 sparked
the war.

In Lebanon, three civilians were killed and 13 wounded in an Israeli air
raid on the village of Ali Al Nahri in the eastern Bekaa Valley, security
sources said.

Five people, including a mother and her three children, died when a house
was struck near the southern city of Tyre, and two people were killed and
four wounded when a truck was hit in the eastern Bekaa valley. Two
Lebanese soldiers were killed in an air strike in the Bekaa valley and
another was killed in Tyre.

Artillery pounded Hezbollah-held areas in south Lebanon. Hundreds of
rounds crashed into the Hezbollah stronghold of Khiam, residents said.

Hezbollah reported fierce fighting in several parts of the border area
and said its guerrillas destroyed at least three tanks and two
bulldozers. It said guerrillas were fighting an Israeli unit trying to
reach the downed helicopter.

The Israeli military said it had launched more than 100 air strikes in
Lebanon since Friday evening, attacking more than 50 Hezbollah command
stations, two missile launchers, and two vehicles carrying weapons from
Syria to the Bekaa valley.

Page: 1 2

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

Today's Top News 

� Businesses to confront resources price hikes

� Battles rage on eve of UN truce

� 134 killed by Saomai, 163 missing

� Britain: China exerts great impact

� Israeli Cabinet approves Mideast truce

Top China News 

� Provinces urged to cool down economy

� China continues to have "enormous impact" on world economy

� China controls 9-km oil slick along river

� China to ban foreign cartoons in "golden hours"

� Typhoon Saomai kills 105; 190 missing

Alibaba is the largest B2B marketplace in the world. Source model ship,
wooden puzzle, one-piece toilet, RC hovercraft, photo album, prom dress,
pocket bike, Vaginal Speculum, Samurai Sword, String Panty and PVC Pipe.

Learn Chinese, Learn mandarin