ISRAEL: Hizbollah rocket barrage wounds at least 19 Israelis in Haifa

Record ID: 396417

  • Title: ISRAEL: Hizbollah rocket barrage wounds at least 19 Israelis in Haifa
  • Date: 21st July 2006
  • Summary: (W3) NORTHERN ISRAEL, ON BORDER WITH LEBANON (JULY 21, 2006) (REUTERS) TANK DRIVING PAST CAMERA TANK DRIVING AWAY SOLDIERS STANDING BEHIND BARREL MORE OF TANKS IN FORMATION ON ROAD
  • Embargoed: 5th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAAUHZP09HC9Z0JXGU88WXVO8UN
  • Story Text: The sounds of a siren echoed across the streets of Haifa as a barrage of Hizbollah rockets fired from Lebanon slammed into the northern Israeli city on Friday (July 21), wounding at least 19 people, medics said.
    Rockets also hit several other northern towns.
    One missile hit an apartment building in Haifa in an initial attack. A second wave of rockets struck a short time later, but it was unclear if there were any casualties. Security and rescue services rushed to the site, ferrying wounded to a nearby hospital.
    Israel has so far failed to stop Hizbollah cross-border rocket attacks, despite relentless bombardment which has killed 344 people and destroyed much of Lebanon's infrastructure.
    "We have counted, so far, over 1,000 missiles over dozens of Israeli cities, towns and villages in that part of the country, Causing the death of fifteen (people), including two children in Nazareth," Israeli Brigadier General Ido Nechoshtan told reporters at a Haifa briefing.
    Hizbollah rocket attacks have killed 15 civilians in Israel, which has also lost 19 soldiers in the conflict.
    Israel began its assault after Hizbollah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12. It has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28 to recover another soldier, seized by Palestinian militants.
    Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armoured vehicles, were lining up along the Jewish state's northern border, preparing for possible entry into Lebanon.
    Also on Friday (July 21) an Israeli government spokesperson said that Hizbollah guerilla attacks on Israel were backed by Iran.
    "Hizbollah would not be the dangerous element it is today without the Iranians. The Iranians have been pumping technology, many weapons explosive into Hizbollah. They have been training it, they very much are the puppet of the regime in Teheran and not only Israel understands that, I think today most Lebanese understand that," government spokesperson Mark Regev said.
    An Israeli newspaper on Friday quoted a top officer as saying that Israel's army may soon expand ground operations against Hizbollah and call up large numbers of reserves.
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