ISRAEL STEPS UP OFFENSIVE

[bdamomma]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1819295,00.html

Israel steps up Lebanon offensive
· Beirut airport attacked, ports blocked
· 53 Lebanese civilians killed
· Rocket struck Haifa, Israel claims

Staff and agencies
Thursday July 13, 2006

Guardian Unlimited

Israel blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two military airbases today, widening a military campaign that has seen 53 civilians killed in Lebanon since Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah fighters fired more than 80 rockets into northern Israel in their heaviest bombardment in a decade. The Israeli army said one of the rockets hit Haifa.

The UN security council called an urgent meeting to discuss the crisis, which escalated yesterday when the two Israeli soldiers were captured and eight killed in fighting with Hizbullah guerrillas on the Lebanese border.

Haifa, Israel's third largest city, is more than 30 km from the border. Most of the Hizbullah missiles fell far short of that distance.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties in Haifa. Israel said two people had been killed and at least 21 injured in Hizbullah strikes on towns in northern Israel.

The Israeli ambassador to the US, Daniel Ayalon, told reporters in Washington the strike on Haifa was a "major, major escalation" but Hizbullah denied it had fired a rocket at the city, Reuters reported.

The day in Lebanon began with a bombardment of Beirut's international airport that knocked out all three runways.

Later Israeli navy ships blocked Lebanese ports, and aircraft bombarded the Riyaq airbase in the Beka'a Valley and the Qoleiat airbase near Lebanon's northern border.

Reports of an Israeli defence department briefing said the military also planned to launch an assault on the main road linking Beirut to the Syrian capital, Damascus.

The US president, George Bush, voiced concern about the fate of Lebanon's anti-Syrian government, but offered no direct criticism of the Israeli offensive. "Israel has the right to defend herself," he said in Germany. "Secondly, whatever Israel does should not weaken the ... government in Lebanon." (WE HAVE ONE SICK MAN WHO STOLE THE PRESIDENCY)