Israel bombs Beirut airport

[General Duke]

Israel bombs Beirut airport

 

 

Israel widened its offensive against Hizbullah guerrillas today, targeting the country's only international airport and forcing its closure, and bombing southern Lebanon in what appeared to be Israel's fiercest military campaign against Lebanon since the 1982 invasion.

A shell crashed shortly after 6am (0300GMT) on the eastern runway, one of three, airport employees reported. Another impact was heard shortly afterwards. Two flights arriving at the airport had to return to Larnaca Airport on the island of Cyprus.

 

Lebanese police reported the shells hit the runways and a road leading from the city.

 

A senior airport official announced its closure shortly after the shells landed and asked scheduled flights to divert to the neighbouring island of Cyprus. The main terminal building, which was built in the late 1990s, was intact.

 

It was not clear if all the shelling came from Israeli military aircraft or if gunboats also participated in the attack on the seaside facility, which is located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a stronghold of Hizbullah guerrillas.

 

In Israel, the military confirmed it had targeted Beirut airport, saying in a statement the facility "is a central hub for the transfer of weapons and supplies to the Hizbullah terrorist organization." It is the first time since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut that the airport has been hit by Israel. The Israelis in 1968 sent commandos to Beirut airport, blowing up 13 passenger planes on the runway in retaliation for Arab militants firing on an Israeli airliner in Athens.

 

The last major air, ground and sea offensive against Lebanon was in 1996 in which about 150 Lebanese civilians were killed.

 

In southern Lebanon, at least 22 civilians were reported killed in overnight Israeli attacks, including a family of 12 in the village of Dweir, the TV station LBC reported. Other TV stations, including Hizbullah's al-Manar, put the figures at 27 killed, including 10 children. Police had no immediate confirmation of the latest casualties.

 

The latest fighting erupted in southern Lebanon yesterday after Hizbullah attacked Israeli border positions, capturing two Israeli soldiers. Eight other Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting and Israel promised harsh retaliation, blasting bridges and roads in southern Lebanon. The Hizbullah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah yesterday offered to trade the soldiers for Arab prisoners, warning Israel that he will fight if attacked.

 

Hizbullah has declared it has more than 10,000 rockets and has in the past struck northern Israeli communities in retaliation for attacks against Lebanese civilians.

 

Hizbullah's TV station reported today that guerrillas fired Katyusha rockets at the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona, targeting an airstrip in the upper Galilee panhandle. Another barrage of rockets targeted Nahariya near the coast. Three Israeli civilians were wounded by Katyusha rocket fire in the town, the Israeli military said. Rescue services said one person was badly injured, while the others were slightly hurt.

 

A bridge on the main highway between Beirut and southern Lebanon was hit overnight by bombs that plowed wide craters, blocking traffic. Some people who were leaving southern Lebanon had to walk across the craters near the town of Damour, about 10 miles south of Beirut.