Free Republic

KFAR KILA, Lebanon - The Lebanese army reached the country's southern border with Israel for the first time in decades Friday, sending a lone jeep on patrol through Kfar Kila, a battered stronghold of support for Hezbollah militants. Italy became the latest nation to agree to provide troops for a stronger U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, but it didn't say how many, underlining the slowness of efforts to beef up the mission. Finland said it would send 250 soldiers in a few months. U.N. officials said nearly all the Lebanese who fled the month of fighting between Hezbollah and...

Israeli Troops Surge Into Lebanon, Engage in Some of the Heaviest Combat of the Monthlong War BEIRUT, Lebanon Aug 13, 2006 (AP)— More Israeli troops surged into southern Lebanon on Saturday, reaching the Litani River and engaging in some of the heaviest combat of the monthlong war just hours after the U.N. Security Council adopted a cease-fire plan. Israel lost 19 soldiers its highest one-day toll. 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....

Decision reached as UN draft would not include Hizbullah disarmament; operation could stop if diplomacy reaches acceptable resolution. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the IDF on Friday to send ground forces into Lebanon and up to the Litani river, some 30 kilometers from Israel. The decision to go ahead was reached after it became evident that a UN resolution would not include the disarmament of Hizbullah. In any case, officials stressed that the ground operation could come to a halt at any time if an acceptable cease-fire resolution is put on the table. The IDF...

The IDF's offensive against Hizbullah in south Lebanon continued unabated early Saturday, after the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an immediate end to the fighting. On Friday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered the IDF to send additional ground forces into Lebanon and advance toward the Litani river, some 30 kilometers from Israel. Israeli officials expressed satisfaction with the UN Security Council's resolution, and the government was scheduled to vote on the cease-fire at its weekly cabinet meeting Sunday morning. The government implemented Wednesday's Cabinet decision that authorized the army to...

The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given the Israeli Defense Force the final approval to conduct the ground assault to the Litani River in southern Lebanon. "According to military sources, close to 70 percent of the Katyusha rockets raining down on Israel are fired just south of, and north of the Litani river. It is in these parts of Lebanon that the Hizbullah's Nasser Unit is waiting with thousands of fighters and functioning command and control centers," reports the Jerusalem Post. Over 40,000 Israeli troops are available for the full scale invasion of southern Lebanon. Prior to the...

The Israeli army launches a terrestrial operation of scale to southern Lebanon JERUSALEM - the Israeli army launched Saturday morning a terrestrial operation of scale to southern Lebanon, announced the spokesman of the army. "Conforméement with the decision Wednesday of the cabinet of safety, the Israeli army launched a terrestrial operation in the south of Lebanon which must extend to the Litani river", the spokesman indicated. "the troops on the ground will profit from an aerial cover and maritime", the spokesman added. According to the public radio, reinforcements as men and the tanks penetrated in southern Lebanon in the...

JERUSALEM - Israeli army units reached the Litani River on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the government ordered an operation to march toward the river in a final push against entrenched Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel Radio reported. The units were part of a massive force that flooded into Lebanon, trying to seize as much territory as possible before a U.N. cease-fire comes into effect. The objective was to control southern Lebanon up to the Litani River, about 18 miles from the Israeli border, before handing over the area to the Lebanese army and U.N. troops. Meanwhile, both sides in the...

Peace deal on hold as 20 die in bitter fighting By Colin Freeman in Beirut and Harry De Quetteville on the Lebanon-Israel border (Filed: 13/08/2006) At least 20 people were killed in southern Lebanon yesterday as Israel made the deepest incursion of its month-long campaign into Hezbollah-controlled areas, even as both sides indicated a willingness to accept a freshly minted United Nations peace deal. Within hours of the UN Security Council's unanimous approval of a ceasefire resolution on Friday night, Israel launched fresh air strikes across Lebanon. More than 20,000 Israeli soldiers crossed the border in a race for the...

I am very disappointed in the way things appear to be going in the war between Israel and Hezbollah and the efforts of the rest of the world to bring a de-escalation in the fighting. President Bush has been working hard writing a peace and ceasefire agreement for Israel and Hezbollah. It infuriates me to think that we are spending our time writing truces with terrorists who's only life goal is the genocide of Israel and the annihilation of western civilization. We must look incredibly ridiculous to the enemy. Bush's attempt to make peace with Muslim terrorists is in complete...

The security cabinet approved early Tuesday morning expanded ground operations in Lebanon, while the IDF, under the assumption that only a few days were left for the operations against Hizbullah, was already gearing up Monday night for a massive ground incursion into Lebanon on three different fronts, utilizing the Golani, Nahal and the Paratroopers infantry brigades. The plan, senior IDF sources said, was to utilize the last remaining days of the operation, which they estimated would be over by week's end, to push Hizbullah back as far north as the Litani River in central Lebanon. The plan was pending approval...