BEIRUT, 14 July 2006 — Israel intensified its attacks against Lebanon yesterday, blasting Beirut’s airport and army bases in its heaviest air campaign against its neighbor in 24 years. Scores of civilians died in the violence following Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers.
Israeli forces hit hundreds of targets, including Hezbollah weapons stores and transportation infrastructure, as Israel said it had information Hezbollah was trying to move the two Israeli captives to Iran. Warplanes punched holes in the runways of Beirut’s international airport and two Lebanese military air bases.
Israel’s Army chief Brig. Gen. Dan Halutz warned that “nothing is safe” in Lebanon and said Beirut itself — particularly Hezbollah offices and residences — would be a target.
Hezbollah responded by firing new, more advanced rockets into northern Israeli towns, killing two Israelis and wounding 12 others.
Hezbollah hit Israel’s northern city of Haifa with a rocket for the first time ever yesterday, prompting Israeli threats of swift retaliation and raising the stakes in an already violent cross-border confrontation.
The strike on Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, was the furthest south that rockets launched by Hezbollah had ever hit and proved that the group had grown increasingly successful in expanding the reach of its rockets.
Also, Israeli helicopter gunships late yesterday unleashed missiles on Beirut airport, setting fuel storage tanks ablaze in the second attack on Lebanon’s only international air facility, Lebanese security officials said.
One helicopter gunship raked the fuel depots with machine-gun fire while three others fired air-to-surface missiles, the officials added. Officials said about a dozen projectiles struck the tanks on the eastern edge of the airport premises, and that several others missed.
The shockwaves from the fighting began to be felt as tensions sharpened, with both sides playing a high stakes game after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers: Israel seeking to end once and for all Hezbollah’s presence on the border while the fighters insisting to trade the captured soldiers with Arab prisoners.
Israel’s warning that Hezbollah wanted to take the two soldiers to its ally, Iran, raised the daunting prospect of a further internationalization of the crisis. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev did not say what the source of the information was.
Trapped between the combatants was Lebanon. The Israeli warnings of more to come caused panic in Beirut, with traffic in the streets thin as people stuck to their homes and stayed away from their jobs. Others packed supermarkets to stock up on goods and long lines formed at gas stations, with many quickly running out of gas. Israel said it held Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah’s snatching of the soldiers. The Lebanese government insisted it had no prior knowledge of the move and did not condone it. Hezbollah fighters operate with almost total autonomy in southern Lebanon, and the government has no control over their actions.
But the government has long resisted international pressure to disarm the group. Any attempt to disarm the group by force could lead to sectarian conflict. Two days of Israeli bombings killed 47 Lebanese and two Kuwaitis, and wounded 103, Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalife said.
Besides the Israeli civilian, eight Israeli soldiers have also been killed — the highest death toll for the army in four years.
Western countries, Russia and the United Nations called for restraint and demanded the return of the soldiers, as the violence pushed crude oil prices to a new intraday record of $76.30 a barrel.
The Arab League called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo tomorrow. The Lebanese Cabinet urged the UN Security Council to intervene.
The European Union criticized Israel for using what it called “disproportionate” force in its attacks and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was planning a peace mission.
US President George W. Bush pledged yesteray to work with Israel, criticizing Hezbollah for thwarting efforts for peace in the Middle East.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that Israel’s Lebanon offensive “is raising our fears of a new regional war.”
Egypt launched a diplomatic bid to resolve the crisis. Egypt’s foreign minister made a swift trip to Damascus on Wednesday to meet Syrian President Bashar Assad. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met yesterday with Saad Hariri.
