The operation took place during the night, some 50 miles from Beirut and near the Syrian border. There were no reports of injuries to IDF soldiers; about a dozen terrorists were reported killed.
Infantry soldiers were brought in by helicopter, receiving cover from the air. Lebanese sources said air force craft fired near a hospital in Baalbek, a known Hizbullah stronghold. Electricity to the area was cut shortly after the operation began, and IDF fighter craft began pounding Hizbullah targets in the area under cover of darkness.
According to an Al-Jazeera report, unconfirmed by Israeli sources, commando forces landed in a hospital in Tel Al-Abayed in the hope of capturing a senior Hizbullah commander reportedly being treated in the hospital. They did not find him, but left with 5 other suspects in his stead. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said later that the operation was not meant to capture any specific terrorist, but rather to send a message regarding Israel's method of operation.
The last time IDF forces were known to have operated so far into Lebanon was in 1994, when senior terror commander Mustafa Dirani was taken hostage. Israel hoped to use him towards negotiating the release of Air Force navigatorRon Arad, but he was released in a prisoner exchange ten years later after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled he could no longer be held as a negotiating pawn towards obtaining Arad’s release.
On Tuesday, five brigades were operating in Lebanon, and that number is expected to increase in line with the Security Cabinet decision to step-up ground forces operations. The objective is to to push Hizbullah deeper into Lebanon in an effort to minimize the threat to Israel’s northern border. The cabinet gave the ‘green light’ for ground forces to operation as far as the Litani River, 30 kilometers to the north of Israel.
The major counter-terror offensive has not been without a toll to Israel as well. In Tuesday’s heavy fighting in Ayta A-Sha’ab, three IDF paratroopers were killed, and 25 sustained light and light-to-moderate wounds.
Justice Minister Chaim Ramon, a member of the Security Cabinet, estimates as many as 300-400 Hizbullah gunmen have been killed, out of a total of 2,000, since the start of the fighting a little over three weeks ago. Intelligence community officials say Hizbullah has been hurt hard, and that the ongoing IDF operation is taking a major toll on the terror organization.
While public sentiment for the anti-Hizbullah effort remains strong, opposition continues to grow among Israeli-Arab citizens, with some taking part in a stormy anti-war protest in eastern Jerusalem on Tuesday. Analysts point out that while some Israeli-Arabs are chanting pro-Hizbullah slogans, the Katyusha rockets slamming into Israeli population centers do not discriminate between Jewish and Arab-Israelis, and have led to three deaths and several injuries among the latter. Nevertheless, Israeli-Arabs by and large are using the ongoing anti-terror war in Lebanon to show their support for Arab brethren against Israel.
World pressure in support of an Israeli ceasefire continues to mount, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continues to stand firm, insisting this will not take place until the Hizbullah threat is eliminated from along Israel’s northern border. Government officials, including Olmert, are signaling that the military operation would halt when a multi-national stabilization forces is deployed in the area, a move that most experts believe will take a number of weeks.
Speaking from Washington following meetings in Jerusalem on Saturday and Sunday, US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice stated a ceasefire in Lebanon is a matter “of days, not weeks.”
Seemingly contradicting the senior US official was Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who stated, following a meeting with Rice, that the fighting would most likely continue for a number of weeks.
Infantry soldiers were brought in by helicopter, receiving cover from the air. Lebanese sources said air force craft fired near a hospital in Baalbek, a known Hizbullah stronghold. Electricity to the area was cut shortly after the operation began, and IDF fighter craft began pounding Hizbullah targets in the area under cover of darkness.
According to an Al-Jazeera report, unconfirmed by Israeli sources, commando forces landed in a hospital in Tel Al-Abayed in the hope of capturing a senior Hizbullah commander reportedly being treated in the hospital. They did not find him, but left with 5 other suspects in his stead. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said later that the operation was not meant to capture any specific terrorist, but rather to send a message regarding Israel's method of operation.
The last time IDF forces were known to have operated so far into Lebanon was in 1994, when senior terror commander Mustafa Dirani was taken hostage. Israel hoped to use him towards negotiating the release of Air Force navigatorRon Arad, but he was released in a prisoner exchange ten years later after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled he could no longer be held as a negotiating pawn towards obtaining Arad’s release.
On Tuesday, five brigades were operating in Lebanon, and that number is expected to increase in line with the Security Cabinet decision to step-up ground forces operations. The objective is to to push Hizbullah deeper into Lebanon in an effort to minimize the threat to Israel’s northern border. The cabinet gave the ‘green light’ for ground forces to operation as far as the Litani River, 30 kilometers to the north of Israel.
The major counter-terror offensive has not been without a toll to Israel as well. In Tuesday’s heavy fighting in Ayta A-Sha’ab, three IDF paratroopers were killed, and 25 sustained light and light-to-moderate wounds.
Justice Minister Chaim Ramon, a member of the Security Cabinet, estimates as many as 300-400 Hizbullah gunmen have been killed, out of a total of 2,000, since the start of the fighting a little over three weeks ago. Intelligence community officials say Hizbullah has been hurt hard, and that the ongoing IDF operation is taking a major toll on the terror organization.
While public sentiment for the anti-Hizbullah effort remains strong, opposition continues to grow among Israeli-Arab citizens, with some taking part in a stormy anti-war protest in eastern Jerusalem on Tuesday. Analysts point out that while some Israeli-Arabs are chanting pro-Hizbullah slogans, the Katyusha rockets slamming into Israeli population centers do not discriminate between Jewish and Arab-Israelis, and have led to three deaths and several injuries among the latter. Nevertheless, Israeli-Arabs by and large are using the ongoing anti-terror war in Lebanon to show their support for Arab brethren against Israel.
World pressure in support of an Israeli ceasefire continues to mount, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert continues to stand firm, insisting this will not take place until the Hizbullah threat is eliminated from along Israel’s northern border. Government officials, including Olmert, are signaling that the military operation would halt when a multi-national stabilization forces is deployed in the area, a move that most experts believe will take a number of weeks.
Speaking from Washington following meetings in Jerusalem on Saturday and Sunday, US Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice stated a ceasefire in Lebanon is a matter “of days, not weeks.”
Seemingly contradicting the senior US official was Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who stated, following a meeting with Rice, that the fighting would most likely continue for a number of weeks.