LEBANON: Shelling continues in the south and east of Lebanon as Israeli forces try to expand areas of control under cover of heavy bombardment

Fierce fighting raged in the south Lebanon as Israeli troops tried to expand seven small border enclaves they control on Friday (August 4). Heavy shelling in the Litani valley, Dibbeen and areas around Marjeyoun, in southern Lebanon, left many houses and roads destroyed. With no action to end the 24-day-old war emerging from the United Nations, more than 150 Israeli air strikes hit targets across the south and artillery pounded border areas as Hizbollah tried to stop new Israeli incursions near Markaba and a strategic hill near the coastal town of Naqoura, security sources said. Hizbollah fighters, setting roadside bombs and firing anti-tank missiles, killed five Israeli soldiers around Markaba, Al Arabiya television said. Israel has not confirmed the report. Israel's army said it had killed 10 Hizbollah guerrillas. Israeli shelling destroyed three bridges in the north of Lebanon. Israeli air strikes also hit the Beirut-Damascus highway near the Syrian border, as well as other roads in the Bekaa Valley. Families searched through the rubble of their homes the day after heavy bombardment in the Bekaa. "He was at home with his wife and son. They were watching Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's speech and that's one the planes hit their house. But thank God, they only sustained minor injuries. They left the house. Their neighbour was killed," said one man referring to Nasrallah's speech a day earlier where he warned his guerrillas would fire rockets at Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut. A senior Israeli defence source said Israel would destroy Lebanon's infrastructure if Hizbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv. In Sidon, a Hamas leader from Lebanon's biggest Palestinian refugee camp announced the militant group is donating money to help some of the 900,000 people who have been displaced by the fighting. Thousands of people displaced by the fighting have taken refuge in Palestinians refugee camps. There are 400,000 Palestinian refugees registered in Lebanon. Most of them were born in the refugee camps after fleeing their homes following the 1948 creation of Israel. Palestinians were widely blamed in Lebanon for sparking the civil war and triggering Israel's invasion. The camps of the mainly Sunni Muslim refugees were attacked by both Christian and Shi'ite fighters during the war. The end of the civil war in 1990 brought little relief as successive governments continued to restrict Palestinian employment and property rights, fearing they might settle permanently in Lebanon and upset its delicate sectarian balance. At least 693 people in Lebanon and 69 Israelis have been killed in the conflict ignited by a cross-border raid in which Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

ITN Source | August 4, 2006

Tags:. .border. .civil. .muslim. .israelis. .emerging