Posted on 08/05/2006 9:26:36 AM PDT by Flavius
ISRAELI helicopters struck the southern Lebanese city of Tyre today in a dawn raid that failed to land commandos and left one Israeli dead, Hezbollah said.
Police said the Israeli helicopters fired four missiles on Tyre's northern outskirts, provoking a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
A large group of helicopters roared over Tyre before dawn, spraying all the routes into the city with machine gunfire, police said.
A Hezbollah official, who declined to be named, said an Israeli helicopter landed at Jall al-Bahr, an area of orchards at Tyre's northern entrance, but was ambushed by Hezbollah.
"A member of the commando group was killed and three others wounded," the official said.
Residents said the exchanges of fire sparked panic in the area. A clinic in the north of Tyre said it moved its patients to the basement for their own safety.
"It was a real battle," said a doctor from the clinic, who declined to be named.
The operation was preceded by intense bombardments of dozens of villages south and east of Tyre, which have been largely deserted by their inhabitants.
Israeli jets also hit the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, south of Tyre, wounding a civilian, security sources said.
An explosion echoed across Beirut at dawn and al-Manar said an Israeli air strike had hit the capital's southern suburbs.
Planes also made four raids on the Rashaya al-Wadi area in the southern Bekaa Valley near the Syrian-Lebanese border, a security source said.
Today's raids came as world powers edged slowly toward a deal aimed at ending the 25-day-old war between Israeli and the Shiite Islamic guerrillas in Lebanon.
In New York, the US and France strove to overcome their differences on a draft UN Security Council resolution aimed at halting the conflict in which at least 727 people in Lebanon and 74 Israelis have been killed.
Paris wants existing UN peacekeepers and Lebanon's army to monitor a truce, while Washington wants the Israeli army to stay in southern Lebanon until an international force arrives.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has said only an expanded UN peacekeeping force to back the Lebanese army is acceptable. He was due to meet US Assistant Secretary of State David Welch in Beirut later today.
France's UN ambassador said after talks yesterday with the US: "We're still working on it."
US ambassador John Bolton said: "There are still some issues that we have not resolved, but I think we have come a little bit closer."
If an agreement is reached at the weekend, a Security Council vote could be held within 24 hours, officials said.
Even if outside powers agree, getting the warring parties to accept a ceasefire may not be easy.
Israel's ambassador to the US said his country would only agree to stop fighting if Hezbollah released the two Israeli soldiers whose July 12 capture sparked the conflict.
Israel's immediate goal is "the unconditional release of the two hostages ... which would constitute the end of hostilities", Ambassador Daniel Ayal said in Washington.
Hezbollah leaders have sworn to fight as long as any Israeli soldiers remain on Lebanese soil. At least 10,000 Israeli troops are now inside Lebanon trying to dislodge Hezbollah fighters from the border and stop them firing rockets into Israel.
Several Hezbollah rockets landed in or near the Israeli city of Hadera, some 80km from the border, yesterday, the deepest they have struck so far. Three Israeli civilians were killed in rocket attacks earlier in the day.
Fighting has also raged in south Lebanon as Israeli troops try to expand seven small border enclaves they control.
Hezbollah fighters killed three Israeli soldiers with an anti-tank missile near Markaba, Israel's army said. It said it had killed at least 16 guerrillas in yesterday's fighting.
The same day an Israeli air raid killed 33 farm workers and wounded 20 near Qaa, in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.
"I was picking peaches when three bombs hit. Others were having lunch and they were torn to pieces," said Mohammad Rashed, one of the wounded. Syria's official news agency said 17 of the dead were Syrian migrant workers, five of them women.
In its account of the raid, the Israeli army said it had attacked a building after a truck that it suspected of carrying weapons from Syria to Lebanon had left the area.
Israeli air strikes also killed five Palestinians, including two militants, in the southern Gaza Strip today, as troops moved closer to a refugee camp as part of an offensive against militants, medics and witnesses said.
Three members of a family were also killed in the air strikes. Sixteen-year-old Kifah Natour, her brother Amar, 15, and their mother Huda, 50, died in the attack.
Why does this story have todays date? I saw it at least 3-4 days ago. It is a rehash.
Well, as long as Hezbullah said that it happened like that, I'm certain it's true.
Not only is it dated, it has been thoroughly debunked.
I guess we had to get the embedded "Hizbollah" version?
Semper Fi
Well, before, we had Baghdad Bob, maybe now we have Tyre Tommy????
Wonder if those other Israeli commandos are still surrounded at the hospital.
All of this fighting and Israel hasnt killed anyone from Hizballah yet just women kids and innocent peach picking civilians. Its a miracle I guess.
It is total B.S. See Captainsquarters.blog. Israel pulled off yet another daring commando raid and captured several high ranking Hezb officials deep inside Lebanon.
If Israel is doing soooooooo bad and hezbullah is doing so great, why is europe crying so much?
Where's Baghdad Bob?
The Israelis were never here.
Those who were here were killed.
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