Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Israel hints at full-scale Lebanon attack

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writer
57 minutes ago

Pitched battles raged between Israeli forces and Hezbollah fighters on the border Thursday, and Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee southern Lebanon "immediately," preparing for a likely ground offensive to set up a buffer zone.

U.N. chief Kofi Annan warned of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon and called for an immediate cease-fire, even as he admitted "serious obstacles" stand in the way of even easing the violence.

Annan denounced Israel for "excessive use of force" and Hezbollah for holding "an entire nation hostage" with its rocket attacks and snatching of two Israeli soldiers last week

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/...E0BHNlYwN0bWE-

My guess is that Isreal will indeed move into Lebanon in force (soon) - they may be giving some time to alllow foreigners to depart Lebanon first?

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Last update - 01:38 21/07/2006


Thousands of IDF troops operating in S. Lebanon

By Haaretz Staff and News Agencies

Two IDF soldiers were killed and six others were wounded in heavy clashes with Hezbollah just inside south Lebanon, close to Moshav Avivim, on Thursday afternoon.

Hezbollah fired mortar shells in the area in effort to disrupt the rescue of the wounded. The IDF believes that several Hezbollah guerillas were killed in the close-quarter confrontation.

Four soldiers were injured late Thursday night when two Apache helicopters collided in northern Israel, near Kiryat Shmona.

Major-General Benny Gantz, who serves as the head of the Ground Forces Command, said on Thursday that ground fighting in limited areas in Lebanon would continue despite the IDF's causalties.

Hezbollah bunkers are well-hidden and discernible only from a close distance, said Gantz. "The operation is challenging, difficult and complex. Unfortunately, there is the price of casualties, but the other side, unlike us, doesn't report their casualties," he added.

Thousands of Israeli troops are operating in south Lebanon where they are targetting Hezbollah positions. Among their activities, they are searching for tunnels dug by Hezbollah militants.

According to the army, Hezbollah fighters have taken refuge inside these tunnels - often dug under homes in villages - along with their rockets, and that they occasionally emerge to fire one into Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/740874.html

_____________________________________________

Based on that description it sounds as it Israel will have no choice but to push deeper into Lebanon - and that will take lots of manpower and armor.

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

03:14 Pakistani president calls on Israel to end fighting in Lebanon (AP)

02:10 Venezuelan protesters burn Israeli flag outside Israeli embassy in Caracas (AP)

02:02 Siniora blames U.S. for not stopping Israel`s offensive in Lebanon (Israel Radio)

www.haaretz.com

[Biblenuggetlady]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Send extra prayers today for Israel. A couple things are laid on my heart...this is the 10th day of Israel's trial and 10 stands for Testimony; Law and Responsibility, symbolically in the Bible. 11 stands for Disorder and Judgement. My concern is, today is Friday...which means the islamofacists will be in their mosques today listening to hatred being spewed towards the Jews and against Israel, things seem to always get ugly after their "Friday prayers".

[Studybug]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

In prayer......

Send extra prayers today for Israel. A couple things are laid on my heart...this is the 10th day of Israel's trial and 10 stands for Testimony; Law and Responsibility, symbolically in the Bible. 11 stands for Disorder and Judgement. My concern is, today is Friday...which means the islamofacists will be in their mosques today listening to hatred being spewed towards the Jews and against Israel, things seem to always get ugly after their "Friday prayers".

[Julian4JC]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

In prayer......

Count me in.
praying in agreement!

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Send extra prayers today for Israel. A couple things are laid on my heart...this is the 10th day of Israel's trial and 10 stands for Testimony; Law and Responsibility, symbolically in the Bible. 11 stands for Disorder and Judgement. My concern is, today is Friday...which means the islamofacists will be in their mosques today listening to hatred being spewed towards the Jews and against Israel, things seem to always get ugly after their "Friday prayers".

Must be working - just saw a report where no rockets were fired overnight into Israel......

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

(12:43) IDF calls reserve soldiers

IDF officials began calling reserve soldiers on Friday morning.

The reserve forces are scheduled to reinforce IDF units operating in different areas and allow the standard forces to operate in the north.

IDF officials said the recruited reserve forces are equal to a division. In the beginning of the week three reserve battalions were called to duty as well.

http://www.gamla.org.il/english/news/news.htm

__________________________________________________ _

One more indication that the IDF is preparing for a major sweep into lebanon

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Rocket Attacks resume:

Haifa: 17 people wounded in rocket attack; 2 in serious condition

Magen David Adom officials reported that 17 people were wounded by the rockets attack on Haifa; two of them are in serious condition.

The rest of the wounded suffered light injuries or suffered anxiety. All evacuated to Carmel hospital, Bnei Zion hospital, and Rambam Medical Center. (Raanan Ben-Zur)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...279339,00.html

[Julian4JC]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

the full scale ground troop invasion is going to be quite difficult, i heard in that case the Lebanese army will get involved.

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

the full scale ground troop invasion is going to be quite difficult, i heard in that case the Lebanese army will get involved.

Agreed -

Just this morning it was reported that Israel already had 1,000 "special forces" across and operating in southern Lebanon. It seems that in the 5+ years since Israel withdrew from the area that Hezbollah has constructed a massive number of "deep" interconnected tunnels all thru and underneath these villages - with deep bunkers under houses.

The IDF reported that it was all but impossible to locate these without being right on top of them - and there is no good way to take these all out with cannon fire or even IAF airstrikes.

As far as the Lebanese Army - other that a few "die-hards" I'm afraid they may just be "cannon-fodder" when the the ground battle is fully engaged.... also the Lebanese are far from being "united" is so far as supporting Hezbollah, so I would fully expect to see many in the Army refusing to engage.

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Last update - 16:12 21/07/2006


Army set to call up thousands of reservists;

IAF planes pound Lebanon's main road link to Syria

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

The Israel Defense Forces will be calling up additional reserve battalions, sending thousands more soldiers to fight Hezbollah on the northern border and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, the army said Friday.

The IDF said the call-up would likely come later in the day.

The decision comes on the heels of a significant expansion of the ground operations in the north, as the IDF sent thousands of troops into southern Lebanon on Thursday. Three reserve battalions have already been called up.

The reservists sent to Gaza will free up soldiers in compulsory service to go to the north. The additional soldiers in the north will be deployed to villages in southern Lebanon.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/741318.html

One report today mentioned a figure of 5,000 more reservists being called up... that's a lot for Israel - earlier this week Israel already activated 3 entire reserve brigades.

[Tennken]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Agreed, 5,000 troops is a large number for Israel, they must be expecting
a prolonged conflict.

[SAT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Rice to present U.S. peace plan

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lay out U.S. plans for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting Friday, an administration official said.

Rice plans a trip to the Mideast as soon as early next week, and will carry the U.S. strategy for ending the 10-day-old warfare and establishing stability in southern Lebanon, a senior Bush administration said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Rice has not yet made her plans public.

The secretary is expected to detail her itinerary and agenda in Washington later Friday.

The plans emerged following two days of meetings in New York with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and envoys he sent to the region this week. Although Annan called Thursday for an immediate cease-fire, that is opposed by the United States. The Bush administration says the United States and the U.N. agree on the wider diplomatic goals for the region.

Earlier, White House press secretary Tony Snow said the administration is working hard to end violence in the Mideast and that criticism of its measured response is coming from people who want "egg-timer diplomacy."

"Nobody has been more active than we have," said Snow, defending administration policy amid continuing U.S. opposition to a quick cease-fire without built-in steps for longer-term stability in both Israel and Lebanon.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060721/.../us_mideast_37

[TomT]

Re: Israel VS Hiz-bullies Part IV (MERGED)

Reposted from the Solana thread for those that may not be monitoring - IMO this is significant!

Chirac: EU's Solana Should Work Toward Lebanon Cease-fire

PARIS (AP)--President Jacques Chirac asked that the European Union charge its foreign policy chief with a diplomatic mission to obtain a cease-fire in Lebanon, the presidential office said Friday.

In a letter to Martti Vanhanen, Prime Minister of Finland who currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, Chirac asked that Javier Solana also be charged with a mission to defuse the crisis in Gaza.

"The crisis in the Palestinian territories and in Lebanon make extremely grave and worrisome bounds from hour to hour," the letter said. The two theaters of crisis "place the security and political equilibrium of the entire region in danger," it said.

In the "two distinct crises," the E.U. "has weight and credibility" that could be used toward finding solutions, Chirac said in the letter....

.....He suggested that Solana, who visited Beirut last weekend and was currently in Cairo, work in conjunction with the United Nations to meet with all figures necessary to "very quickly make proposals to reach conditions for a global and lasting cease-fire in the region."

http://www.easybourse.com/Website/dy...NewsRubrique=2

Note - No mention of Dr. Rice or the US efforts - i.e. just as in the case of Iran, the US is seen by the EU and really the entire world as taking the side of Israel - rather than the side of "peace"..... thus IMO the US will continue to be marginalized more and more on the diplomatic front in terms of resolving the world's two major crisis - Iran and Israel...