MIDEAST: Israel continues to pound southern Lebanon as Hizbollah rocket barrages kill one in Israel

Record ID: 401317

  • Title: MIDEAST: Israel continues to pound southern Lebanon as Hizbollah rocket barrages kill one in Israel
  • Date: 2nd August 2006
  • Summary: ISRAELI MILITARY HELICOPTER OVERHEAD
  • Embargoed: 17th August 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA73HHA59FZJF0KM0QIXDS9T9B3
  • Story Text: Troops deployed near Israel's northern border continued to pound southern Lebanon as Hizbollah guerrillas fired scores of rockets into Israel on Wednesday (August 2) killing one person and wounding more than a dozen, medics said.
    Troops were also operating inside southern Lebanon in an attempt to stop Hizbollah from launching rockets and force its guerilla fighters away from the Israeli border.
    In all, police said 155 rockets were fired from Lebanon towards Israel on Wednesday, making it one of the most intensive days of rocket fire so far.
    One round of rockets even struck the occupied West Bank, marking the furthest distance any Hizbollah rockets have struck in the past three weeks of fighting.
    In the West Bank village of Faquah witnesses said at least one rocket landed between their village and neighbouring Jalboun, located about 70 km (45 miles) from the border with Lebanon.
    They said they heard explosions and saw plumes of smoke immediately after the strike, but no injuries were reported. A crater around four metres wide was punched into the ground.
    "I was sitting at home, we heard a very loud explosion we went up to the roof and saw very thick smoke, everyone in the village were on their rooftops and saying that the explosion was very close, and it was clarified that it was a rocket from the north that landed here," one witness said.
    Israeli police said some rockets also landed just north of the West Bank, near the Israel city of Afula, located 50 km (30 miles) from Lebanon.
    One rocket slammed into a house on a Kibbutz near the Israeli city of Nahariya, close to the Lebanese border, killing a 52-year-old man as he was riding his bike.
    Hizbollah has fired around 1,700 rockets into Israel since the conflict broke out on July 12, killing at least 19 civilians and wounding hundreds.
    In a statement issued in Lebanon, Hizbollah said it had stepped up attacks on Wednesday "after the enemy went too far in targeting civilians".
    Around 650 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed by Israel air strikes and bombardments since Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid, sparking the conflict.
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