ISRAEL: Israeli cabinet opts to continue Lebanon strategy

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met European Union representative Bennita Ferraro-Waldner Thursday (July 27), amid a flurry of diplomacy in an effort to end the Lebanon war. Israeli air and ground forces continued their barrage of southern Lebanon Thursday (July 27), as Hizbollah continued its rocket attacks. Brush fires broke out across the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona after rockets fired by Hizbollah fighters hit fields in the area. But a chemical factory building was also hit, causing a major building fire. "In Kiryat Shmona it is about seven Katyusha rockets that fell in direct (on) buildings and some examples is here behind me - some factory. There is a few peoples wounded, but not serious wounded. It's about psychologic effect," a Kiryat Shmona police officer said. Israeli Deputy Premier Shimon Peres said Israeli forces are making progress, despite fierce fighting. "Well, the toll was very heavy and costly. It was also heroic demonstration of brothers in - comrades in arms. It happens in war, unfortunately, but we feel that in spite of all the propaganda that Hizbollah is losing ground," Peres told Reuters Television. Israeli Brigadier General Shuki Shahar told reporters that Israeli forces did not intend to take the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil - the site where some of the fiercest fighting has occurred. "We didn't go to conquer Bint Jbeil. We did not intend to conquer Bint Jbeil. This was not the mission given by the northern command to the divisions and the brigades going to do their activities," General Shahar said. Israel launched its latest bombardment of the south a day after nine soldiers were killed in the heaviest 24-hour toll it has suffered in its 16-day-old conflict against Hizbollah. Israeli forces have been trying to push Hizbollah back from the border and end rocket attacks since the group captured two soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12, but the army is wary of getting bogged down in guerrilla battles in southern Lebanon. At least 433 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in Lebanon, where a humanitarian crisis has exploded. Fifty-one Israelis, including 18 civilians, have been killed.

ITN Source | July 28, 2006

Tags:. .serious. .mission. .met. .european. .strategy