LEBANON: Families flee southern Lebanon during air raid suspension as rescue workers retrieve 25 bodies

Civilians fled battered villages in southern Lebanon on Monday (July 31) as Israel began a 48-hour suspension of air strikes on south Lebanon after an air strike on the village of Qana killed at least 54 civilians. Carrying whatever personal belongings they could, families fled the area in cars and on foot. Civilians moved towards the southern port city of Tyre, 20 km (13 miles) north of the border, with white flags fluttering from their vehicles. Some were hoping to leave Tyre and head further north to the sea port town of Sidon. "People are fleeing ever since the Qana massacre took place. People are scared. They committed this massacre because they don't fear God," said Na'ef Netneh, from Aitar village. Others were going in the opposite direction, to check on homes or help relatives trapped in villages by Israeli bombing. The Israeli army has reserved the right to strike at Hizbollah rocket launchers, target the Shi'ite Muslim group's leaders or give air support to its ground operations. Rescue workers took advantage of the suspension of air attacks and began the gruesome task of digging up dozens of bodies from under the rubble of at least three villages in south Lebanon. Civil defence workers used a bulldozer to clear rubble from where around 30 civilians were believed buried under houses destroyed in an Israeli air strike in the village of Sreefa two weeks ago. Rescuers retrieved the remains of 25 civilians from the rubble of collapsed houses in three south Lebanon villages, Lebanese Red Cross sources said. They said 12 bodies were recovered in the village of Sreefa, nine in Zibqeen and four in Qleileh, and rescuers were looking for more people believed buried under the rubble by Israeli air strikes over the past three weeks. Israel's three-week offensive in Lebanon has killed around 550 people, mostly civilians. Officials and security sources say there are scores of bodies under the rubble of destroyed houses in a cluster of villages near the border with Israel. The war erupted when Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack on July 12.

ITN Source | July 31, 2006

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