TEL AVIV — Israel has launched its first major offensive in Lebanon
since 2000.
Israel Air Force F-15 and F-16 fighter-jets struck suspected Hizbullah
strongholds in such cities as Beirut and Tyre as well as missile arsenals
throughout southern Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported. The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has an
estimated 15,000 missile and rockets and has threatened to fire long-range
weapons toward Tel Aviv.
"This is a different story than in the past," a senior military source
said. "We're not talking any longer of a battle of a day or two. This will
take a long time."
The source said Israel's military, which withdrew in 2000, has imposed
an air, sea and land blockade on Lebanon. He said this was a major element
in Israel's retaliation for the Hizbullah strike on northern Israel on
Wednesday, in which seven soldiers were killed and two others were captured.
Hizbullah struck from positions along the Israeli border damaged in a
military strike in May. At the time, the Israeli government dismissed a
military recommendation to prevent Hizbullah from refurbishing the outposts.
"We don't intend to allow Hizbullah to return to our borders," Defense
Minister Amir Peretz said on Thursday. "The Lebanese Army must operate
there."
Later, military sources said Northern Command has proposed establishing
a buffer zone of one kilometer inside Lebanon. The sources said that only
United Nations peacekeepers would be allowed along the frontier and
intruders would be shot.
"Anybody who approaches the border fence would be considered an enemy
combatant and shot," a source said.
Israel, however, has not sent a major ground force in Lebanon. The
source said the military has recommended that the offensive remain limited
to air strikes, including the destruction of the homes of Hizbullah leaders
in southern Beirut.
"To clear the area, you need infantry," former Israel Air Force
commander Maj. Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliyahu said. "The area is large. The name of
the game is to be in the area all the time."
On Thursday, Lebanese police reported 38 people killed in Israeli air
strikes over the past 24 hours. They said 20 bridges in southern Lebanon
were also destroyed. There were no reports of Hizbullah firing anti-aircraft
missiles.
"The government was not aware of and does not take responsibility for,
nor endorses what happened on the international border," Lebanese Prime
Minister Fuad Siniora said after an emergency Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
In response, Hizbullah launched dozens of Soviet-origin Katyusha rockets
toward northern Israel. At least one Israeli was killed and another 30 were
injured in the Israeli city of Nahariya.
"There will be difficult days," Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon
said.
Military sources said Hizbullah fired rockets toward an air force base
at Meron, which contains an air command facility. The sources said the base
was damaged but nobody was injured.
For its part, Hizbullah said it launched more than 60 Katyushas toward
Israel. The Shi'ite group said 20 rockets were fired toward the air force
base at Meron.
The Hizbullah rocket fire has paralyzed much of northern Israel.
Residents have been ordered to remain in bomb shelters and train service was
suspended.
Thousands of Israelis were reported to have fled south. By Thursday
afternoon, Hizbullah rocket fire was halted.
"We're going to have to absorb in the short-term so we could defend
ourselves in the future," Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Gershon, head of the military's
Home Front Command, said.
At this point, Hizbullah has been striking targets at a range of up to
25 kilometers, the sources said. But they said Hizbullah could escalate by
firing the Iranian-origin Fajr rockets, the most advanced of which could
reach the Tel Aviv area.
Hizbullah has already claimed firing a long-range rocket. On Thursday,
the Israeli-based Rotter news agency reported two explosions in Kfar Tavor
in the southern Galilee, about 40 kilometers from the Lebanese border, a
range that could be covered by the Fajr-3.
The immediate threat to Israel, the sources said, was a Hizbullah strike
on Haifa. Haifa is the third largest city in the country and contains a
naval port and chemical plant.
"I estimate that this is indeed a realistic scenario," Dan Scheuftan, a
senior researcher of the National Security Studies Center at Haifa
University, said.