MIDDLE EAST: Israel shoots down Hizbollah drone as Israeli raids kill at least 55 people in Lebanon

Israeli aircraft shot down an unmanned spy plane launched by the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah as it entered Israeli territory on Monday (August 7, 2006), the Israeli army said. The drone was spotted by the air force's monitoring unit and fighter planes were scrambled to intercept it, an Israeli military spokesman said. The spokesman said a fighter plane shot the drone down 10 km (six miles) off Israel's coast, northwest of the city of Haifa. An Israeli military source added that it was an Iranian-made drone with a range of about 150 km. The spokesman said it appeared that the drone was not armed, but added further checks were being made of its remains. It was the third time in the past two years that Hizbollah has tried to fly a drone over Israel. The most recent incident was in April 2005, when an unmanned plane flew over the Western Galilee region before returning to Lebanon. Earlier on Monday, an Israeli strike hit a crowded area in Beirut's southern suburb, destroying a residential building and killing at least 15 people and wounding 30, rescue workers said. They said Israeli rockets hit the Shiyyah neighbourhood that has been spared in Israeli bombardment so far. Hizbollah's stronghold of Haret Hreik nearby had been levelled by air strikes over the past four weeks. Rescue workers were still clearing the rubble of the destroyed building to look for more people believed buried alive, witnesses said. Buildings in the street were also badly damaged, they said. Speaking at a local hospital, a woman described her lucky escape. "The phone rang and I was about to speak on the phone and then the building collapsed. There was smoke and we could not breathe. I grabbed my father and brothers and we left straight away in Shiyyah. We were on the second floor. Thank God, my family is fine," she said. In other parts of the country, six members of the same family were killed in the southern Lebanese village of Ghazzaniyeh, when Israeli jets struck their house. One civilian was killed and 14 were wounded in strikes in Ghaziyeh, just south of the port city of Sidon. "We have no one here, we are refugees in Ghaziyeh. We were staying in the house of my husband's sister. She is still under the rubble. My cousin is also buried under the rubble and my daughter Sahar as well. I don't know where my daughter is, please tell me if Sahar is in the hospital. Please God let me see my daughter," said one woman, as victims of the strikes arrived at a nearby hospital. Israeli aircraft also hit the last coastal crossing on the Litani river between Sidon and Tyre, cutting the main artery for aid supplies to civilians in the south, aid agencies said. International aid groups said Israel was providing no security guarantees, effectively paralysing its delivery of aid south of the Litani. About 22,000 people remain in the region, less than one fifth of the pre-war population, U.N. figures say. Lebanese Health Minister Mohammad Khalifeh said the war had killed 925 people, mostly civilians, with 75 missing, presumed dead. The toll did not include Monday's casualties. About one-third of the dead were children under the age of 13. Ninety-seven Israelis have also been killed.

ITN Source | August 8, 2006

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