BEIRUT, 21 July 2006 — Israeli warplanes battered south Beirut again yesterday and large swathes of the south, from which Hezbollah fired more rocket volleys into Israel. Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah fighters yesterday as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons after warning residents in a nearly 30 kilometer deep (20 mile) swath of the south along the border to flee.
More than 600 relatives of UN peacekeepers and other foreigners were evacuated by ship from the southern port city of Tyre, a region that has seen a ferocious pounding by Israeli warplanes and gunboats for days. Many of the women and children had spent the night in the beach waiting for the ship that arrived yesterday morning and took them to Cyprus.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Embassy in Beirut reported yesterday that 12,500 Saudi citizens have been evacuated from Lebanon to Syria, where they boarded Saudi Airlines flights back to the Kingdom. Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul Aziz Khojah has appealed to any Saudis remaining in the country to leave as quickly as possible “so that their safety may be assured.”
The ambassador estimated that the number of remaining Saudis was “no more than 300.”
“They’re distributed in official missions, Saudi Airlines offices and media establishments in addition to a few working in Saudi companies,” he said to Arab News by phone from Beirut.
Khojah said he was instructed by Riyadh to provide the stranded Saudis all facilities including free accommodation in hotels close to the embassy premises, food and transportation. “All of these expenses were met by the Saudi government,” he said. The Syria-bound bus convoys organized by the Saudi Embassy in Beirut followed a less direct route because the highway linking Beirut with Damascus has been under heavy Israeli bombardment.
Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, has been corresponding regularly with the ambassador directly about the safety of the Saudi citizens in Lebanon and the progress of the evacuation operations.
As the evacuation procedures wind to a close, the embassy is now directing its efforts to humanitarian relief efforts. The mission will also be facilitating the transfer of Lebanese nationals with residency permits to Saudi Arabia.
A group of around 40 US Marines hit the ground in Beirut, helping in the evacuation of hundreds of Americans to a navy transport vessel the USS Nashville off shore — the first US military deployment in Lebanon in 22 years. Ships were lined up in Beirut harbor to pull out thousands of Europeans.
Russia sharply criticized Israel over its onslaught against Lebanon, now in its ninth day, sparked when Hezbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Israel’s actions have gone “far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation” and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.
At least 306 people have been killed in Lebanon since the Israeli campaign began, according to the security forces control room that collates casualties. In Israel, 29 people have been killed, including 14 soldiers. The UN has said at least half a million people have been displaced in Lebanon.
Israel’s series of small ground forays across the border have aimed to push back Hezbollah fighters who have continued to fire rockets into northern Israel despite more than a week of massive Israeli bombardment against them — raising the question of whether air power alone can suppress them. Hezbollah fighters fired 25 rockets into Israel yesterday, which caused no casualties.
Late Wednesday, an Israeli military radio station beamed into south Lebanon issued a warning telling “all residents south of the Litani to evacuate” — raising fears of a ground assault. The Litani lies about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of the border, running roughly parallel to it and numerous towns, including Tyre lie south of it.
The Al-Mashriq station has continually issued evacuation calls for individual villages and towns in the south, warning of imminent strikes.
Hezbollah fighters have been fighting back hard against Israel’s ground forays, wounding three Israeli soldiers yesterday, a day after killing two. Yesterday, an Israeli unit sent in to ambush Hezbollah fighters had a fierce gunbattle with a cell of the militia.
In another clash, just across the border from the Israeli town of Avivim, Hezbollah fighters fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli tank, seriously wounding one soldier. Hezbollah said in a statement that its fighters destroyed two Israeli tanks as they tried to enter the Lebanese border village of Maroun Al-Ras, across from Avivim.
An Israeli Army spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of a full-scale invasion.
“There is a possibility — all our options are open. At the moment, it’s a very limited, specific incursion but all options remain open,” Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli Army spokesman said.
— With input from agencies
