Israel Surges Into Lebanon, Despite Vote

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060813/D8JF74PG0.html

Israel Surges Into Lebanon, Despite Vote
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Aug 12, 8:29 PM (ET)

By LAUREN FRAYER and SAM F. GHATTAS

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) - More Israeli tanks and soldiers surged into southern Lebanon on Saturday, reaching the Litani River and engaging in some of the heaviest ground combat of the monthlong war just hours after the U.N. Security Council adopted a cease-fire plan.

The leader of the Islamic militant group Hezbollah grudgingly joined Lebanon's government in accepting the U.N. resolution but vowed to keep fighting until Israeli troops leave and hand over territory to a muscular U.N. peacekeeping force intended to separate the antagonists.


Lebanese men inspect the destruction next to a collapsed apartment building in a Hezbollah stronghold suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2006, that was destroyed following Israeli air strikes. Israeli warplanes struck several targets in north, east and south Lebanon early Saturday, killing at least two people and wounding several others. The attacks came just hours after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an end to the war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)


Israel also signaled its intention to approve the plan, at a Cabinet meeting Sunday, and a senior official predicted fighting would stop Monday morning, but there was no slowing in the bloodshed.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced early Sunday that a cease-fire would take effect at 8 a.m. Beirut time Monday (1 a.m. EDT), saying both Israeli and Lebanese leaders agreed to the start time. In his statement, Annan called for an immediate halt to the fighting.

[rusty charly]

1. where's "defiant condi":

flouting a UN RESOLUTION!

we MUST INVADE!

[CoffeeCat]

3. What a great point!

Saddam failed to adhere to UN resolutions and we took him out.

Shouldn't the US declare war on Israel and invade at once?

[rusty charly]

4. unless it's already considered

as much a part of the US as puerto rico, guam, or the virgin islands

so invading would be redundant

[leesa]

6. Israel has pages of ignored UN resolutions, most notably 242 from 1967

which said she should give back the land that was stolen.

[AlamoDemoc]

2. In other words, Israel is milking the genocide over Lebanon. n/t

[anotherdrew]

5. it sure looks to me like the US was told to but out at some point n/t

[Scurrilous]

7. 24 IDF soldiers killed Saturday in south Lebanon

"Twenty-four Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and another 11 seriously wounded in heavy clashes Saturday with Hezbollah forces in south Lebanon, after Israel dramatically expanded its ground operation in the area."

<snip>

"Under cover of intense artillery fire, IDF forces reached the Litani River, which is some 20 to 30 kilometers inside Lebanon, military officials said Saturday evening.

As part of the expanded operation, IAF helicopters dropped a large number of Israeli troops deep inside Lebanese territory on Saturday, in the largest operation of its kind since 1973.

IDF troops were engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with Hezbollah, as forces thrust northward to the Litani River under cover of intense artillery fire. IDF sources said more than 80 Hezbollah fighters had been killed in the clashes over the weekend, at least 40 of them on Saturday.

Israel has nearly tripled the number of forces in Lebanon as part of its expanded ground war, and expects to fight for another week, despite a United Nations cease-fire resolution, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Saturday. Halutz said IDF troops would stay in Lebanon until an international force arrives. "We have almost tripled our forces that are operating in Lebanon," Halutz told reporters."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749479.html

[Heidi]

8. Locking.

Duplicate: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2452844