BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israeli troops landed Tuesday near the eastern Lebanese town of Baalbeck, Lebanese security sources said, and the Israeli military engaged in fierce fighting with Hezbollah forces just across the border with Lebanon.
BEKAA ATTACK ! FINALLY....release the hounds !!! Channel WT SHermam, boychiks!!
Israeli aircraft flew support missions as troops hit the ground about 10 km north of Baalbeck in the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, the sources said.The Lebanese army also reported heavy helicopter traffic east and west of the town.
Israeli troops entered Hikma Hospital in northern Baalbeck, where they checked the identification cards of all staff and patients, the sources said, adding that there was no indication that anyone was taken from the hospital.
The Israel Defense Forces had no comment on the reports, but earlier in the day the Israeli Security Cabinet approved an expansion of Israel's three-week-old military campaign in Lebanon.
Tuesday's fighting was concentrated near the Lebanese villages of Tayba, just outside the Israeli town of Metulla, and Aita Al-Shaab further west.
The IDF said three of its soldiers were killed and 25 wounded in the fighting in Aita Al-Shaab. Five other soldiers were wounded on the Israeli side of the border when they were hit by a mortar shell, it said.
In two days of fighting, the IDF said forces have killed or wounded more than 20 Hezbollah fighters across southern Lebanon. Hezbollah issued a statement saying four of its forces died in Tuesday's fighting.
Israeli forces entered the Aita Al-Shaab around noon on Monday, the IDF said. (Watch Israeli bombardment pound Aita Al-Shaab -- 3:09)
Just outside the village, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon reported intensive Israeli shelling in the villages of Ramia, Dibil and Qawzah on Monday and Tuesday morning. (See where the fighting is taking place)
In Tayba, the IDF said it took control of several strategic positions that it said have been used by Hezbollah fighters to launch missiles at northern Israel.
Israeli police reported 14 cross-border strikes hitting northern Israel on Tuesday, two using Katyusha rockets and 12 using mortar shells.
East of Tayba, Israeli forces Tuesday heavily shelled the town of Kfar Kela a day after pounding it with airstrikes, according to U.N. observers.
Israeli forces have also been operating in the areas of Odaise and Rab Talateen for the past two days, according to the IDF.
To the west, U.N. officials said, Israel gunboats in the Mediterranean Sea pounded southern Lebanon, while Lebanese security sources said militants fired three salvos of Katyusha rockets into Israel from the central section of south Lebanon.
Continue reading "Breaking - Israel strikes deep into Lebanon" at Villagers with Torches »
Hell yeah, channel Sherman! Here I am a Greek/Georgian promoting both Ataturk and Sherman, Sherman the terror of my childhood! Well, if he still could strike fear into kids in Georgia in my childhood, he certainly handled the war right! Both of these men took the reins when no one else had the WILL to do more. They understood the nature of war and reforging nations.
ReplyDeleteBut this is a great development in this war (why do the MSM channels keep putting it ups as "Mideast Conflict : Day __"? Idiots.) If our intelligence was as tight as Israel's, we'd be in much better shape here. They are spot on, and even with people falling for the set-ups hatched by Hezbollah, the truth is plain to those who want to see it.