Israel Force Gathering Near Border Town -Lebanon Officials

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BEIRUT (AP)--An Israeli force massed on their side of the border further to the east, across from the Lebanese town of Khiam, Lebanese security officials said early Sunday. The move raised the prospect of a new large incursion into Lebanon.

NASDAQ

[mom cat]

1. Thanks for the info!

[Igel]

2. I've heard it said that some

towns were sort of regional centers, that Hezb had divvied up the area gridlike for command and control purposes. Bint Jbeil was supposedly one. I seem to think I recall al-Khiyam being one.

I read over the bits that stated what the towns were far too quickly, and didn't think they were important at the time. Pity.

[cal04]

3. New Israeli thrust triggers south Lebanon battle

Hizbollah guerrillas battled Israeli forces making a new thrust into southern Lebanon on Sunday, Lebanese security sources said.

The sources said the fighting erupted when the Israelis crossed the border from the Israeli village of Metula towards the Shi'ite Muslim town of Khiam. Israeli aircraft and artillery pounded the town while guerrillas fired rockets at northern Israel, they said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30279443.htm

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4. IDF renews ground offensive

Scroll down.

The IDF renewed its ground offensive in south Lebanon on Sunday morning. A Nahal division, backed by armored troops, began operating in southern Lebanon, heading toward the village of Taibeh.

Also Sunday, IDF troops clashed with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon, north of Dovev. Hezbollah fighters sustained injuries in the clashes.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744332.html

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5. Hezbollah says fighters kill Israeli army elite troops

BEIRUT, July 30 (KUNA) -- The Islamic resistance said Sunday it attacked and killed Israeli army elite forces while trying to enter Teiba project area in southern Lebanon, sources close to Hezbollah said.

The sources told KUNA the Islamic resistance planted bombs in a building they had withdrawn from, and while the Israeli army force entered the building the explosives were detonated killing eight soldiers.

The Israeli forces are hardly attempting to recover the dead soldiers, added the sources. (end) oh.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=891722

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6. Four Israeli soldiers wounded in clashes with Hezbollah -- reports

(Changing Dateline) RAMALLAH, July 30 (KUNA) -- Four Israeli soldiers were injured as a result of continuous clashes with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon, said Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronot on its internet site on Sunday.

Two of the soldiers were slightly injured, according to medical sources quoted by the newspaper.

The paper claimed that five Hezbollah fighters were killed. Meanwhile the Israeli army announced that an Israeli soldier was severely wounded by a Katyusha missile launched by the Lebanese resistance. More than 100 Katyusha missiles were launched since this morning by Hezbollah.

Hezbollah announced today that it bombarded a number of Jewish settlements in Northern Israel as a "retaliation act" against Israeli aggressions.

http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=891786

[Marie26]

7. Have they actually captured

one town yet? Doesn't seem like it.

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8. More likely they have "captured" them several times.

The guerillas do not try to hold ground.

[Marie26]

9. I can't imagine

what Israel's strategy is here. Bomb civilians for awhile and turn the whole world against them, then troll around the border before finally working up the nerve to go into one village, take a few casualties & pull out. Watch guerrillas come back in. Repeat. It doesn't seem like they've advanced more than a couple miles into Lebanon this whole time. How are they thinking that this will disarm Hizbollah? How are they thinking that another week of aeriel bombing alone will stop Hizbollah? If anything, they've gathered more strength & support from the battered Lebanese people. It just seems like Israel doesn't have a clue what they're doing here.

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10. Making it up as we go along, is what it looks like.

I think the original idea was to make noise, blow shit up, scare people, maybe damage Hezbullah some, and then negotiate for certain political goals from a "position of strength". That is just from watching what's been done and the changing rhetoric since it started. Of course that hasn't panned out, and we've been improvising madly for some time now.

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11. Senior officer: all Hizbullah outposts on border will be destroyed by Thur

A senior IDF officer said that, by Thursday, IDF forces are expected to have destroyed all Hizbullah outposts along the Israel-Lebanon border as part of the plan to establish a buffer zone along the border. According to the officer, the forces are attempted to erase all traces of Hizbullah presence within a kilometer and a half of the border.

The officer further declared that the IDF will attack any armed individual who approaches within a kilometer of the border. (Hanan Greenberg)

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3283820,00.html

[sidpleasant]

13. Wow, a one mile wide buffer zone on the border!

I guess that grand achievement makes all the deaths and destruction in Beirut and northern Lebanon worth it.

When all this started the Israelis were talking about creating a 20+ miles wide demilitarized zone along the border. I guess they've scaled back on that plan.

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14. It is pitiful. They are grabbing at straws. nt

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12. Anti-Tank Missile in Lebanon Injures 4 Soldiers

(IsraelNN.com) Hizbullah terrorists fired a missile against an IDF tank Sunday evening and wounded four soldiers, two of them suffering moderate injuries and two sustaining light wounds.

The attack occurred near the village of Al Tayyiba, near the Israeli border, when the tank was en route to rescue one of four other soldiers who were injured moderately in a battle with Hizbullah terrorists.

http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=108761