Israel attacks forces Beirut airport to close
Israel intensified its attacks against Lebanon today, blasting Beirut’s airport and army bases in its heaviest air campaign against its neighbour in 24 years.
Four dozen civilians died in the violence following Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Israeli forces hit hundreds of targets, including Hezbollah weapons stores and transportation infrastructure, Israel said it had information Hezbollah was trying to move the two Israeli captives to Iran.
Planes punched holes in the runways of Beirut’s international airport and two Lebanese military air bases.
Israel’s army chief Brig Gen Dan Halutz warned that ”nothing is safe” in Lebanon and said Beirut itself – particularly Hezbollah offices and residences - would be a target.
Hezbollah responded by firing new, more advanced rockets into northern Israeli towns, killing one Israeli and wounding 12 others.
The guerrilla force warned that it would rocket the key Israeli port city of Haifa if Israel hit Beirut, a strike that would be the deepest ever into Israel by the guerrillas – some 18 miles. Unconfirmed reports claim that this has now happened.
The shockwaves from the fighting began to be felt as tensions sharpened, with both sides playing a high stakes game after Hezbollah snatched two Israeli soldiers: Israel seeking to end once and for all Hezbollah’s presence on the border while the guerrillas insisting to trade the captured soldiers with Arab prisoners.
Israel’s warning that Hezbollah wanted to take the two soldiers to its ally, Iran, raised the daunting prospect of a further internationalisation of the crisis.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev did not say what the source of the information was.
The Israeli warnings of more to come caused panic in Beirut, with traffic in the streets thin as people stuck to their homes and stayed away from their jobs.
Others packed supermarkets to stock up on goods and long lines formed at petrol stations, with many quickly running out of fuel.
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