** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List ** ** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi: ** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ ** ** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral scholarship, kunjungi http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com ******Israeli military officials said they had found "thousands" of Katyusha rockets and other missiles hidden in well-camouflaged underground bunkers but also in mosques, hospitals and schools. They asserted that Iran was trying to send fresh supplies of ammunition and rockets to Lebanon through Syria. Israeli Forces Push Deeper in Lebanon E-MailPrint Reprints Save By CRAIG S. SMITH Published: July 23, 2006 YIRON, Israel, July 23 ? Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Lebanon today as Hezbollah answered with more rocket barrages. Joao Silva for The New York Times A deserted holiday resort near a burning fuel depot outside an electrical power plant in the town of Jieh, south of Beirut, after it was attacked twice by Israeli air strikes since the start of hostilities. Two people were killed when at least 13 rockets fell on Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, bringing Israel's civilian death toll in the 12-day-old conflict to 17. Lebanon's civilian death toll also continued to climb, with at least four people killed in the country today. Three died when Israeli warplanes struck a minibus carrying 16 people who were fleeing the fighting in southern Lebanon. A Lebanese photographer, Layal Nejim, 23, became the first journalist to die in the fighting when an Israeli missile hit near the taxi in which she was riding in southern Lebanon, The Associated Press reported. Ms. Nejim worked for the Lebanese magazine Al-Jaras. Her taxi driver survived. Meanwhile, The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the French foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, were both in Israel today for talks in hopes of finding a way to end the fighting. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday for a private dinner with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipora Livni. Ms. Rice is scheduled to meet Mr. Olmert on Tuesday before traveling to Ramallah in the West Bank, where she will meet the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Ms. Rice then plans to go to Rome for an international conference on the Middle Eastern conflict. The Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, said today that Israel would accept a NATO-led international force to keep the peace along its northern border. He reiterated that the current offensive was not the start of a full- scale invasion of Lebanon and that Israel's attacks would remain confined to well-defined raids. "The army's ground operation in Lebanon is focused on limited entrances, and we are not talking about an invasion of Lebanon," Mr. Peretz told the Israeli cabinet. He said the military operations would complement "broad international activity to complete the process" of subduing Hezbollah and restoring security along Israel's northern border. Brig. Gen. Shuki Shachar, chief of staff of the Israeli Army's Northern Command, said that some ground forces had reached "the depths" of Lebanon while at least three Lebanese villages ? Maroun al-Ras in the east and Marwahin and Aita al-Shaab in the West ? were now under Israeli control along the border with Israel. Israel has not said how many ground troops it now has in Lebanon, but the Israeli news media reported today that the number was now in the thousands. "We try to hit the enemy in every place we can identify him," General Shachar said, adding that Hezbollah remained strong in Lebanon's north, its south and its eastern Bekka valley. Tens of thousands of those people have fled north to the southern Lebanese port of Sidon, which was attacked for the first time in the current conflict by Israeli warplanes today. Four people were wounded in the attack, which targeted a Hezbollah-related religious center. Israeli warplanes and helicopters attacked Hezbollah positions in and around the eastern Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek and bombed a textile factory in the border town of al-Manara. One person was killed and two wounded in that attack, The Associated Press reported. General Shacher defended the Lebanese civilian death toll, saying it was light considering that Israel fighter aircraft and attack helicopters have made 1,500 flights over Lebanon and that Israel has fired more than 20,000 artillery rounds into the country in the last 12 days. "This is a war and in war sometimes there are mistakes," General Shacher said, noting that it is particularly difficult to avoid civilian casualties when fighting a guerilla force mixed in an indigenous population. Israel has been warning the civilian population to living south of the Litani River in Lebanon to move north in order to avoid getting caught in the ground assault. "The reason for the evacuation of the population is to leave us open space and an open area to hit military and terrorist targets and not to deal with the problem of civilians," Gen. Shachar said. Israeli military officials said they had found "thousands" of Katyusha rockets and other missiles hidden in well-camouflaged underground bunkers but also in mosques, hospitals and schools. They asserted that Iran was trying to send fresh supplies of ammunition and rockets to Lebanon through Syria. Israeli troops in Maroun al-Ras are now fighting Hezbollah forces in the larger town of Bint Jabel, a few miles deeper into the country. An Italian soldier, Capt. Roberto Punzo, working with the United Nations observer team in southern Lebanon, was wounded by Hezbollah gunfire. He was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Haifa. Meanwhile, the missiles continued to fall close to the border. The northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona was engulfed in dense white smoke by brush fires started by rockets, most of which fall in forests and fields of this sparsely populated area. Yellow crop- dusters circled overhead dropping red fire suppressant. The Israeli military said Hezbollah had fired nearly 90 rockets on northern Israel by this afternoon and was showing no slackening of the pace in recent days. Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, fired a dozen smaller Qassam rockets into southern Israel today without causing serious damage. The attacks suggested that the Palestinian Authority had failed in its reported attempt to broker a unilateral cease-fire among the militants. The United Nations' top humanitarian official, Jan Egeland, toured the destruction in Beirut, Lebanon, and said that it would take billions of dollars to repair damage. Mr. Egeland was expected to travel later to Israel to help coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid. As many as 600,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, according to the World Health Organization. The Israeli military announced that humanitarian aid could enter Lebanon through Beirut's port and from there would be transferred to regional aid centers across Lebanon, in coordination with its forces. It did not specify how aid would reach the south where the fighting has been the heaviest and the aid is most needed. The Lebanese foreign minister, Fawzi Salloukh, who maintains strong ties to Hezbollah, said today that the two Israeli soldiers whose kidnapping set off the Lebanon conflict are in good health. A Lebanese government spokesman said the prisoners were still with Hezbollah. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel today accused much of the international news media of bias in its reporting of the war, complaining that the "murderous viciousness" of Hezbollah was not being portrayed. "A twisted image is presented, where the victim is presented as an aggressor," he said. --- In ppiindia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Ambon" <sea@...> wrote: > > http://news.netster.com/story.asp?id=D8J1TKCG0 > > Israeli Troops: Hezbollah a Tough Enemy > > > 4:20 PM EST July 23, 2006 > The Associated Press > ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER > Israeli soldiers returning from the front in Lebanon talk of battling an intelligent, well-prepared and ruthless guerrilla army whose fighters don't seem to fear death. > > The troops describe Hezbollah guerrillas hiding among civilians and in underground bunkers two or three stories deep _ evidence, they say, that Hezbollah has been planning this battle for many years. > > "It's hard to beat them," one soldier said. "They're not afraid of anything." > > The soldiers, most of whom declined to give their names under orders from superiors, described exchanges of gunfire in between houses on village streets, with Hezbollah guerrillas sometimes popping out of bushes to fire Kalashnikovs, rocket- propelled grenades and anti-tank missiles. > > The troops' comments underscored the enormous challenges faced by Israel as it seeks to neutralize Hezbollah, which captured two Israeli soldiers in a brazen cross-border raid on July 12, provoking a fierce Israeli response. > > Despite Israel's enormous firepower that it says has already killed about 100 Hezbollah fighters, some military analysts say the war isn't going particularly well for the Jewish state, which is encountering tougher than expected resistance. It has been unable to push the guerrillas back significantly or stop hundreds of their rockets from slamming into northern Israel. > > For the past few days Israel has been fighting for control of the tiny southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras, located on a hilltop less than 500 yards across the border. The army said it had a significant presence in the village, but gunfire and the blasts of artillery shells could still be heard on Sunday as tanks and helicopters pounded positions inside. > > Officers at the scene confirmed there was still fighting to do. > > "They're not fighting like we thought they would," one soldier said. "They're fighting harder. They're good on their own ground." > > One soldier said the guerrillas wore olive green army uniforms "to confuse us" because Israelis wear the same. Others said Hezbollah hid underground in reinforced bunkers until they thought it safe to come out and attack. The Israelis prefer to stay away from those bunkers, the soldiers said, instead calling in coordinates so forces massed behind the border can hit them with guided missiles. > > "It will take the summer to beat them," said Michael Sidorenko, 21, resting in the shade of a road sign with other combat troops. On the hills behind him, loud gunfire and the constant thud of explosions could be heard. > > "They're not normal soldiers, you know," Sidorenko said. "They're guerrillas. They're very smart." > > Sidorenko said he saw Hezbollah fighters firing from behind Lebanese civilians. > > "That's why our soldiers are getting killed," he said. > > Of the 19 soldiers killed so far since fighting began, five have died trying to gain control of Maroun al-Ras. > > To avoid more deaths, Israel has decided to limit its ground incursions to pinpoint operations near the border _ a policy that military analysts say may well be insufficient to achieve Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah back and destroying its ability to attack Israel. > > Not every soldier described Hezbollah as fierce. One said that when Israeli troops show up in vehicles, the guerrillas "run like chickens." > > Others wondered why Hezbollah had not yet attacked the nearly two-dozen army vehicles and hundreds of troops camped out in easy striking range below the hill on which Maroun al-Ras sits. > > Most believed the guerrillas would rather aim their rockets at major Israeli population centers such as Haifa. > > A core group of a few hundred Israeli soldiers, including paratroopers, have carried out most of the fighting in Maroun al- Ras. Sunday's action mainly involved Israelis firing artillery rounds onto spots on the hill, and armored carriers bringing supplies to the troops. > > One young man said the delivery duty can be harrowing because you never know where and when the next round of fire will hit. > > "It's crazy over there," said Alon Williams, 20, a bright- eyed tank driver who immigrated from South Africa. > > The soldiers said Hezbollah has refrained from attacking them as they approached Maroun al-Ras in tanks and armored personnel carriers, preferring instead to let Israelis reach the village and then attack them there. > > The fighting, they said, showed the guerrillas had used the six years since Israel withdrew from Lebanon to build bunkers, stockpile weapons and study tactics. > > "They have good knowledge about where we are, what we're doing, what kinds of weapons we have," Sidorenko said. > > But it's better to fight them now than later, when they'd be even stronger, he said. > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > ------------------------ Yahoo! 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