LEBANON: As Hizbollah guerillas battle Israeli troops, rescue workers continue searching for bodies in the south of Lebanon

Record ID: 352937

  • Title: LEBANON: As Hizbollah guerillas battle Israeli troops, rescue workers continue searching for bodies in the south of Lebanon
  • Date: 3rd August 2006
  • Summary: (W3) AREA BETWEEN KHIAM AND MARJAOUN, LEBANON (AUGUST 02, 2006) (REUTERS) DISTANT SHELLING; CLOUDS OF SMOKE VARIOUS OF FLARES MORE DISTANT SHELLING/SMOKE
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA27FTSFLNK8RVH37LTY0NRX82W
  • Story Text: Hizbollah guerrillas battled thousands of Israeli troops on five fronts in south Lebanon on Wednesday (August 2), Lebanese security sources said.
    They said Israeli artillery was pounding frontier villages as tank-led forces closed in on Hizbollah-held territories. Guerrillas were firing back mortars, anti-tank rockets and machinegun fire.
    Hizbollah said its forces had destroyed four tanks and a bulldozer in the fighting.
    The Israeli army said that during "sporadic exchanges of fire" in south Lebanon two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded. It said there were no reports of damage to military vehicles.
    The guerrillas killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded 25 in battles in the border village of Aita al-Shaab on Tuesday (August 1). An Israeli general said up to 6,000 troops were taking part in the ground fighting.
    On the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Tyre, explosions were heard and smoke could be seen rising in the distance.
    Rescue workers continued to recover bodies from under the rubble in villages hit by Israel's bombardment.
    In villages near Tyre, ten bodies were recovered from the rubble and taken to the town's main hospital for possible identification by relatives. The bodies were recovered from several unidentified villages.
    In Nabatieh, where fighting has been fierce, local rescue workers dug up the remains of a body. The identity of the person was not known and it was unclear how long it had been trapped under the destroyed house.
    More than sixty bodies have been recovered since Monday (July 31) after Israel agreed to a 48 hour air strike suspension. The 48 hours have expired but rescue workers continued to search for bodies and assist those in areas worst hit by the violence.
    In the mountains near Khiam and Maraoun, shelling continued.
    Hizbollah guerrillas fired 150 rockets into Israel and fought the Israeli troops after helicopter-borne Israeli commandos attacked Hizbollah targets in the ancient city of Baalbek.
    Air strikes in support of the helicopter raid on the ancient city of Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon killed 19 people, including four children.
    Hizbollah said it had hit the Israeli town of Beit Shean, almost 70 km (45 miles) from the border, with "Khaibar 1" rockets to avenge Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon.
    The Hizbollah salvo, which killed one person in the northern city of Nahariya, followed a two-day lull in such attacks.
    At least 643 people in Lebanon and 55 Israelis have been killed in the conflict, now in its fourth week. Lebanon's health minister puts the toll at 762, including unrecovered bodies.
    At least 750,000 Lebanese, almost a quarter of the population, have been driven from their homes.
    The International Committee of the Red Cross sent a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Tyre on Wednesday.
    The aid included food and medication which the Red Cross said would be distributed to families in Tyre and those living in neighbouring villages. Many of them have been cut off from main areas due to Israel's three weeks of bombardment.
    The Red Cross said it will give 100 million Swiss francs (81 million U.S. dollars) to provide assistance to civilians.
    International humanitarian agencies began delivering supplies to areas worse hit in the south but access for desperately needed aid convoys is still difficult, the United Nations said.
    The United Nations estimates up to 900,000 people have been displaced by the bombing and fighting in Lebanon but many civilians are still trapped, too poor to get transport or too scared to run the gauntlet of Israeli air strikes.
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