LEBANON: Israeli strikes hit southern Lebanese port city of Sidon

Hours after Israeli forces seized a strategic Lebanese frontier village on Sunday (July 23), Israeli strikes destroyed a Shi'ite centre in the southern port city of Sidon, wounding three people. The Al-Zahraa complex which housed a mosque and Shi'ite centre lay in ruins after the strike. Israeli planes dropped anti-Hizbollah leaflets which were seen floating over Sidon. On Saturday (July 22) Israeli forces had urged residents of 14 villages in south Lebanon to leave ahead of more air raids. Lebanese civilians displaced from Tyre and southern Lebanon villages took shelter in Sidon. Families slept on mattresses on the floor after fleeing their homes. Abdul Rahman al-Bisri, the head of the Sidon municipality described their condition. "The number, the population that moved from various cities and towns in the south have moved without any clothing, without any personal possessions and many of them have spent days on the road. They have reached the city dehydrated, they have reached the city lacking any medication, many of them have chronic illnesses and need hospitalisation," he said. Al-Bisri said Sidon needed more aid to cope with the influx of those seeking refuge but was not optimistic. "The central government, the Lebanese government cannot send enough amounts of help, the help we are receiving from the government is too little, too late. But we are not receiving any help at all from the international community, international community. NGOs, international NGOs have just appeared now in town, they are still assessing the situation but I am afraid that the response will be too little too late," he added. Israel's 12-day-old onslaught in Lebanon to cripple Hizbollah has claimed 358 lives, mostly civilians. Hizbollah attacks and rockets have killed 35 Israelis. Envoys from three European countries hold talks in Israel later on Sunday ahead of the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a new round of diplomacy aimed at ending the fighting. U.N. relief agencies have called for safe passage to take in food and medical supplies. An estimated half million people have fled their homes. Jan Egeland, the United Nations' emergency relief coordinator, said at least $100 million was needed to avert a humanitarian disaster in Lebanon over the coming months. Israel has built up its forces at the border and called up 3,000 reserves, but has been wary of mounting another invasion only six years after ending a costly 22-year occupation of the south. The army said its forces were continuing to carry out "pinpoint" operations against specific locations close to the Israeli border in southern Lebanon. Already, 20 soldiers have been killed in the latest conflict. Another 15 civilians have been killed in Hizbollah rocket attacks since the fighting started. The war started when Hizbollah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a July 12 raid into Israel, which had already launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip to try to recover another soldier seized by Palestinian militants on June 25.

ITN Source | July 23, 2006

Tags:. .spent. .centre. .port. .wounding. .israelis