http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/israeli-troops-on-the-move/2006/07/22/1153166636893.html
Israeli troops on the move a.. b.. Israeli armoured personnel carriers move into Lebanon yesterday. Photo: AFP Paul McGeough and agencies July 23, 2006 - 1:51AM Israeli tanks crossed the Lebanese border late last night and were battling Hezbollah militants, sparking speculation of a full-scale invasion. Backed by a dozen tanks and armoured personnel carriers, the Israeli troops encountered Hezbollah bunkers, weapons stores and rocket-launching sites. "This is a place where Hezbollah have a stronghold, where there are Hezbollah people attacking us," said army spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal. "This is part of our ongoing effort specifically along the border area to destroy all the Hezbollah assets and infrastructure," he said. Earlier, Israel bombed mobile telephone and television masts in northern Lebanon, knocking out a private TV network. It pledged to pursue its war on Hezbollah with more military incursions, but said it still had no plan for an all-out invasion. Israel had been massing soldiers and tanks on its northern border after an 11-day aerial bombardment that failed to staunch waves of deadly Hezbollah missiles landing on its territory. The Israeli move gives rise to speculation that this war is about to enter a bloodier new phase. It comes as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prepares to visit Israel - but not Lebanon. And it will inject a new urgency into Canberra's emergency evacuation of thousands of Lebanese Australians. But there is confusion about the travel intentions of the 7000 Lebanese Australians who had registered with the embassy. It laid on three ships on Friday, but just 750 berths were claimed by would-be evacuees. By mid-morning yesterday about 600 people were being processed and arrivals at the port in Beirut had reduced to a trickle. The 1500-berth Krinti II was to sail for Turkey or Cyprus - but ambassador Lyndall Sachs declined to confirm which one. Their plight is only a fraction of an emerging humanitarian crisis - more than 300 Lebanese civilians have been killed, about 500,000 have been dislocated and communities are running low on food and medicine. Israel, after pressure from Dr Rice, announced yesterday it would open a humanitarian corridor to allow food, medicine and other aid into Lebanon. Dr Rice said she wanted to achieve an "endurable peace" rather than the ceasefire arrangements of the past. Insisting that Hezbollah was the problem player, she argued that the kind of quick ceasefire being demanded by the UN and others would be a "false promise, if it returns us to the status quo". Dr Rice is to have talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders before meeting Lebanese diplomats in Rome. Canvassing possible settlements, she spoke of "some kind of international assistance, perhaps significant international assistance" to "push forward" the sovereignty of the Lebanese Government and the deployment of Lebanese forces in the south. That's a prospect already in the pipeline. On Friday, senior Lebanese officials warned that if there was an Israeli ground offensive they would go into battle against the Israelis, not necessarily against Hezbollah. The prospect of an Israeli ground offensive threatens to further muddy the diplomatic waters. Most analysts have speculated that Dr Rice's delayed departure was intended to give Israel more time to undertake its aerial war. Source: The Sun-Herald [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
