LEBANON: Explosions continue in capital Beirut

Record ID: 353112

  • Title: LEBANON: Explosions continue in capital Beirut
  • Date: 21st July 2006
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF BUILDINGS AND SMOKE AFTER EXPLOSIONS
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA29K2JLFSIRF0BJP484JQ2D9CC
  • Story Text: Explosions were seen from beyond the rooftops of the Lebanese capital Beirut as night fell on Thursday (July 20).
    As the conflict in the Middle East continued, Hizbollah fought fierce battles with Israeli troops on the Lebanese border, as thousands more foreigners fled the nine-day-old war in Lebanon, including 1,000 Americans evacuated by U.S. Marines.
    According to Al Jazeera television four Israelis had been killed. An Israeli military source said there had been Israeli casualties but gave no details. Israeli media reported eight soldiers wounded. Hizbollah said one of its fighters was killed.
    The firefight took place just inside Lebanon, near an area where Hizbollah guerrillas killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded nine in Lebanon on Wednesday (July 19).
    Earlier on Thursday three Israeli soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, in clashes in the area. The Israeli army said two Hizbollah fighters were killed in that battle.
    Hizbollah said it had destroyed two Israeli tanks in house to house fighting in the village of Maroun al-Ras. The group's al-Manar television showed captured Israeli equipment, including a rifle, night-vision binoculars, grenades and a video camera.
    Elite Israeli troops have launched small raids inside Lebanon in recent days to try to destroy Hizbollah positions and stop guerrillas firing rockets into the Jewish state.
    Israel launched its offensive after Hizbollah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12. The war has killed at least 29 soldiers and civilians in Israel.
    U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for an immediate end to hostilities, but said a team he had sent to the region believed a sustainable ceasefire would take time to arrange.
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