JULY 2006
HERE IS THE PROOF THAT THE CAPTURED ISRAELIS WERE IN LEBANESE TERRITORY...........from an Australian newspaper
Sky fills with smoke as border becomes fire zone
Rocky road … Israeli soldiers take position in
Zar'it.
Photo: AP
Ed O'Loughlin in Zar'it
July 13, 2006
www.smh.com.au/.../2006/07/13/1152637749878.html
EXPLOSIONS tore through the sky over northern Israel - the sound of stable doors slamming too late.
Six hours after the Hezbollah raid that killed or captured nine of its soldiers, the Israeli Defence Force yesterday fired across the border into southern Lebanon, where the attackers came from.
Akram Arviv, a chicken farmer, 43, sat on the terrace of his house metres from the border, watching shells burst near the Israeli Palmonit border post, perched high on a hilltop across a wooded valley.
"It's bad for business," he said. "Whenever there's shooting the chickens stop laying. It can take a week for production to get back to normal."
From near Palmonit, machine-guns fired long intermittent bursts into Lebanon. Overhead two helicopter gunships circled, occasionally releasing flares to foil any heat-seeking missiles. Then they swung abreast and four missiles thumped to earth 500 metres off.
"That's the [Israeli Defence Force's] old Karkom position," Arviv commented. "It's inside Lebanon, and we had to give it up when we pulled out six years ago. Hezbollah have a place there, but I don't think they are still there now. We have attacked it many times before."
There was the whoosh of a jet engine and the earth jerked as a larger explosion jarred the hilltop, sending flame and smoke into the air above the abandoned army post. "F16," Arviv said.
Twice more the jets attacked, swooping then pulling into a tight climbing turn to bring them back over Israel, spouting flares. About 100 metres up the road a Merkava tank guarded the road to the nearby border. Its crew said they were from Alon company - the same unit that lost a tank and three men when it crossed into Lebanon hours before, vainly pursuing the fleeing guerillas.
"I don't feel anything special about it," said a conscript crewman, a study in nonchalance. "We are trained for war."
His sergeant said the attack had come about 9am local time when a patrol was driving along a border road screened by dense scrub trees. Eight soldiers, including several reservists, were travelling in two Humvees.
"They were hit by a missile and maybe an explosive device too," he said.
To the east, hidden in the haze, an attack helicopter fires long bursts from its cannon.
| Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
July 28th: Mr Downer said there was a strong case for an international intervention force in southern Lebanon and discussions were underway on what shape it would take. "But that international intervention force will have to go in in an environment where there is a ceasefire, and to provide security in the southern part of Lebanon, and to facilitate the Lebanese army taking back control of that part of the country," he said. "There will be a ceasefire very quickly when Hizbollah make it clear they are going to withdraw from southern Lebanon," Mr Downer said. |