Danny
Jedi
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14128276/
Updated: 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel launched its deepest ground attack into Lebanon with Israeli commandos raiding a Hezbollah-run hospital and air strikes killing at least seven civilians in the eastern city of Baalbek on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said that Israeli forces entered Baalbek, hit a number of guerrillas, captured several more and brought them back the Israel. The military said all its soldiers returned to their base without suffering casualties, but refused to identify the guerrillas who were captured. Israeli radio broadcast the names of three alleged Hezbollah members it said had been seized in the raid.
Hezbollah implicitly confirmed that some people had been seized at the hospital and spirited away by helicopter, but denied they belonged to the militia.
"Those who were taken prisoner are citizens. It will not be long before the (Israeli) enemy will discover that they are ordinary citizens," Hezbollah said in a statement broadcast on its Al-Manar television. The TV reported Israeli troops had abducted three people from a house close to the hospital.
Fighting at hospital
Witnesses said Israeli forces partially destroyed the Dar al-Hikma hospital in Baalbek, an ancient city some 130 kilometers north of Israel.
Hezbollah's chief spokesman, Hussein Rahal told AP that fierce fighting raged for more than one hour at the hospital.
"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital." He said Hezbollah guerrillas fought the commandos inside the hospital.
Hezbollah was using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and Israeli jets were attacking the surrounding guerrilla force with missiles, Rahal said.
Israeli warplanes staged more than 10 bombings around the hospital as well as on hills east and north Baalbek, witnesses said. The planes also dropped flares over the city while heavy fighting was raging around the hospital, they added.
Jets later fired a second round of missiles on residential neighborhoods in eastern and northern Baalbek where Hezbollah's Shiite supporters live, witnesses said.
One of a series of air raids struck the village of Al Jamaliyeh, about one kilometer from the hospital. A missile hit the house of the village's mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, instantly killing his son, Ali, the mayor's brother, Awad, and five other relatives, witnesses said.
They said the mayor, who survived the raid, and his relatives were political opponents of Hezbollah, and had apparently been hit randomly.
"Where is the press? Where is the media to see this massacre? Count our dead. Count our body parts," he told The Associated Press on the telephone, minutes after the missile strike.
Fighting ended at about 4 a.m. as precarious calm prevailed in Baalbek, residents said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, residents said the Dar al-Hikma hospital is financed by an Iranian charity, the Imam Khomeini Charitable Society, which is close to Hezbollah. The hospital is also run by people close to Hezbollah, the residents said.
Comment:Well we all know hospitals are notorious for harboring guerillas and terrorists.:P....what's it gonna take folks?A bunker buster in our backyard for some summer fun?We have an obligation as normal humans do we not? I have the time,feet and voice and 2 good hands(for holding signs,of course,not violence) if someone has a when and where.What "special moment" are we waiting for and what good is saving for the future when it is obviously desparately close to being predetermined for us in a very different way,and certainly not with our interests in mind?Wake up and smell the depleted uranium! In my opinion,sitting here mulling about what we have learned each and every day as dozens more die excruciating deaths,puts us in the same damn boat as the psychopaths orchestrating,backing,financing,or supporting this tragedy.We have free will and we talk about it alot,but remember,inaction is the free will choice to do nothing!
Updated: 1 hour, 27 minutes ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israel launched its deepest ground attack into Lebanon with Israeli commandos raiding a Hezbollah-run hospital and air strikes killing at least seven civilians in the eastern city of Baalbek on Wednesday.
The Israeli military said that Israeli forces entered Baalbek, hit a number of guerrillas, captured several more and brought them back the Israel. The military said all its soldiers returned to their base without suffering casualties, but refused to identify the guerrillas who were captured. Israeli radio broadcast the names of three alleged Hezbollah members it said had been seized in the raid.
Hezbollah implicitly confirmed that some people had been seized at the hospital and spirited away by helicopter, but denied they belonged to the militia.
"Those who were taken prisoner are citizens. It will not be long before the (Israeli) enemy will discover that they are ordinary citizens," Hezbollah said in a statement broadcast on its Al-Manar television. The TV reported Israeli troops had abducted three people from a house close to the hospital.
Fighting at hospital
Witnesses said Israeli forces partially destroyed the Dar al-Hikma hospital in Baalbek, an ancient city some 130 kilometers north of Israel.
Hezbollah's chief spokesman, Hussein Rahal told AP that fierce fighting raged for more than one hour at the hospital.
"A group of Israeli commandos was brought to the hospital by a helicopter. They entered the hospital." He said Hezbollah guerrillas fought the commandos inside the hospital.
Hezbollah was using automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and Israeli jets were attacking the surrounding guerrilla force with missiles, Rahal said.
Israeli warplanes staged more than 10 bombings around the hospital as well as on hills east and north Baalbek, witnesses said. The planes also dropped flares over the city while heavy fighting was raging around the hospital, they added.
Jets later fired a second round of missiles on residential neighborhoods in eastern and northern Baalbek where Hezbollah's Shiite supporters live, witnesses said.
One of a series of air raids struck the village of Al Jamaliyeh, about one kilometer from the hospital. A missile hit the house of the village's mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, instantly killing his son, Ali, the mayor's brother, Awad, and five other relatives, witnesses said.
They said the mayor, who survived the raid, and his relatives were political opponents of Hezbollah, and had apparently been hit randomly.
"Where is the press? Where is the media to see this massacre? Count our dead. Count our body parts," he told The Associated Press on the telephone, minutes after the missile strike.
Fighting ended at about 4 a.m. as precarious calm prevailed in Baalbek, residents said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, residents said the Dar al-Hikma hospital is financed by an Iranian charity, the Imam Khomeini Charitable Society, which is close to Hezbollah. The hospital is also run by people close to Hezbollah, the residents said.
Comment:Well we all know hospitals are notorious for harboring guerillas and terrorists.:P....what's it gonna take folks?A bunker buster in our backyard for some summer fun?We have an obligation as normal humans do we not? I have the time,feet and voice and 2 good hands(for holding signs,of course,not violence) if someone has a when and where.What "special moment" are we waiting for and what good is saving for the future when it is obviously desparately close to being predetermined for us in a very different way,and certainly not with our interests in mind?Wake up and smell the depleted uranium! In my opinion,sitting here mulling about what we have learned each and every day as dozens more die excruciating deaths,puts us in the same damn boat as the psychopaths orchestrating,backing,financing,or supporting this tragedy.We have free will and we talk about it alot,but remember,inaction is the free will choice to do nothing!