Israel bombards Beirut amid spiraling attacks

[Marie26]

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's international airport and the navy blockaded Lebanon's ports in a sharp escalation of its military campaign Thursday.

Hezbollah guerrillas fired scores of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel in the most intense bombardment in years.

The missiles killed one woman and at least 10 others were hurt in the attack on Safed, about 13 miles (20 kilometers) from the Lebanese border, which local officials said not been hit by Hezbollah rockets since 1972.

Beirut's main airport was forced to close after Israeli fighter jets hit all three of its runways, leaving huge craters and making them unusable.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html

[brentspeak]

1. Hopefully, Hezbollah will be destroyed once and for all

But that's a long-shot hope.

[Teaser]

3. Considering they defeated the Israeli army last time

Israeli invaded Lebanon, it's doubtful.

[Marie26]

4. I'm just hoping this

doesn't start another major war in the Mideast.

[northernsoul]

8. Not bloody likely

I have nothing but contempt for Hezbollah, but my fear is that Israel has now granted them a renewed impetus not to mention a deep supply to propaganda and recruiting materials.

The other problem is the likely collateral impact. Israel is now de facto at war with the entire nation of Lebanon (whose democratic election we were cheering on just last summer - remember?); Syria may be involved before the day is done; and we've got 150,000 U.S. troops bogged down in the middle of an Iraqi civil war with a resurgent Iran led by madmen just to their east. Don't think that North Korea isn't going to try to leverage this situation by engaging in some more brinksmanship of their own. This could well be the opening gusts of a perfect storm of world-wide muli-lateral warfare.

Sure, I'd love to live in a world without Hezbollah. I'd also like to live in a world without the mafia, the KKK, or any other group that harms innocent people for its own gain. Igniting a global firestorm to get rid of Hezbollah is a little like burning your house down to exterminate the cockroaches, though.

[Amonester]

27. I take it that "any other group that harms innocent people for...

its own gain" includes all the "zee-dee-oh-logz" in the PNAC, and all their "think-tank-criminals" too.

[northernsoul]

42. you betcha

In fact, I'd rather have a world without PNAC than a world without the Mafia.

[Amonester]

46. I'd give both of these as a *mandate* to Interpol

http://www.interpol.int

(As long as they'd respect all International Laws)

Well, I know they're after the latter but I'd include the PNAC and all the other "evil wrong-doers minorities" in that mandate also.

Isn't it what they're supposed to do? (I think so.)

[Tight_rope]

76. Very Well Put...When will we learn that there will always be good and evil

We will always have people trying to destroy the good that man kind does. But there are many peaceful ways of handling them. Sure there are times you need to use might. But too much might could be the destruction of the good.

[Terran1212]

25. IDF destroyed too

[INDIA]

60. Yeah...

IDF=Hezbollah terrotists. Just as bad. Legitimate defense force vs stateless terrorists. yep... :eyes:

I really wish name calling wasn't against the rules.

[Zynx]

69. I suppose you want Israel driven into the sea as well?

[saigon68]

29. Its a religious war

It won't end until all the people on one side or the other are dead

[INDIA]

61. I strongly disagree.

If hypothetically all enemies of Israel somehow decided to renounce violence tomorrow, the entire conflict would end. Israel would have no need to fight if they were not being attacked.

If hypothetically Israel renounced all violence tomorrow, they would continue to be attacked on a daily basis. Their mere existence is what is causing and continuing this conflict. Israel just doesn't share the same hatred for its neighbors.

[w4rma]

63. Define the boarders of Israel. (nt)

[INDIA]

74. I think where they are right now is fair.

After being forced into three separate wars, successfully defending their country, and relinquishing the majority of land they won in each, I think they have the moral high ground. Their neighbors need to grow up and face reality, Israel isn't going anywhere and they have a right to exist.

Israelis don't HATE their neighbors, they just want to exist. Their neighbors on the other hand HATE Israel and the Jews who inhabit it. They will continue attacks until every Jew is out of the Middle Ease. That will never happen, so the people guilty of continuing this conflict aren't fighting under the star of david.

How many Israelis do you see firing guns in the air and celebrating after every successful airstrike?

[IA_Seth]

75. So, by that logic...

Would you feel that Israel would be justified to occupy/claim southern Lebanon when this war is over? Their justification for these attacks is that they were attacked by Lebanon, so this would put them on the "moral high ground", right?

If you ask me, there is nothing moral about the way they've treated the Palestinians, nor in the way in which they've responded to the kidnapping of their soldiers by Lebanese militants.

[INDIA]

79. Yep!

And after the conflict is over they can use the land as a bargaining chip. "We'll give you these 10 square miles back if you stop the terrorists in your country from firing Hassam rockets at us every single day" Pretty fair trade if you ask me. In each early conflict, Israel has done the same thing. Did you know Israel used to occupy the entire Sinai Peninsula one of the three wars? They worked out a deal to give it back to Egypt and their relation with that country has been relatively peaceful since.

[IA_Seth]

80. Craziness. n/t

[Zynx]

70. Despite their reputation, religious wars are nowhere near as bloody

as those pertaining to national identity.

[ixion]

2. thanks BushCo

for making this type of aggression popular again. :grr:

[saltpoint]

5. Good point. It was nearly rendered obsolete after the 1960s and 1970s.

Those damn hippies, and that craven bitch Joan Baez. Always eroding a government's authority to commit acts of violence and aggression and preferring instead peaceful resolution to conflict.

:sarcasm:

----------------
Ixion, I like it that you put the blame squarely on the Bush administration for this. They are definitely complicit in an increasingly violent and unstable Middle East.

[Marie26]

6. "Breaking: Israel’s foreign ministry says it has information that

Lebanese guerrillas are trying to transfer the captured Israeli soldiers to Iran, The Associated Press reports. CNN is working to confirm."

From the CNN homepage. I've got a really bad feeling about this.

[fordnut]

7. I hate to say this

and I hope my brother is wrong but he says this is the
beginning of the end like it's just started the wheels are in
motion to Armaggedon.we all need to pray about this

[Binka]

15. You Go Ahead And Pray

The rest of us will discuss the situation like grown ups.:eyes: Jaysis!

[INDIA]

17. Oh wow, Your BROTHER said that???

Everybody to the shelters! Fordnut's brother just predicted the apocalypse!!!:sarcasm:

[Binka]

19. Grab Some Booze & I'll Bring The Bud!

Somebodies brother needs to stop talking to the old bearded dude in the sky!:silly:

[Marie26]

18. Let's not expect

the Rapture just yet.

[blonndee]

33. "We all" don't need to pray

if you want to, go ahead. Is your brother some kind of fortune teller or something?

[coalition_unwilling]

35. Backward Christian Soldiers (n/t)

[Tight_rope]

77. LMBAO....

[bdamomma]

43. sorry but religion has gotten us into this

[LeftCoast]

55. Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake Recipe

This recipe calls for:
2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Boiling Folgers Coffee
1/2 cup Buttermilk
2 Eggs
2 cups Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1-1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

[Toots]

73. I think you are terrorizing Diabetics

:shrug: Can't we all just get along?

[acmavm]

9. Of course they are.

:sarcasm:

[daleo]

10. Why would Iran get involved

Other than as an intermediary? I hope this is a development that will lead to defusing, rather than escalating the situation.

[Marie26]

11. Because we've already blamed them

The US's statement put the blame for these kidnapping squarely on the shoulders of Iran & Syria, even though this happened in Lebanon. I'm worried that this latest update will become a reason for Isreal to bomb Iran, & for the Bush Ad. to finally get the Iran war they've always wanted.

[daleo]

12. I think you have a point

This could be the pretext for the Iran war that the Bush administration is looking for. Escalation has a way of getting out of control, though.

[progressivebydesign]

56. I have no doubt this was planned w/Bush.

He's conveniently out of the country... he seems to skip out of D.C. whenever things get tuff.

[coalition_unwilling]

36. As long as BFEE is willing to see 140,000 U.S. POWs --

remember Muktada al Sadr's warning of what he and the Mahdi Army would unleash in the event of any attack by the U.S. on Iran.

Then there's al Sistani and the Badr Brigades.

Truth to tell, we're just "e pluribus unum militium" (one out of many militia in Iraq, with apologies for any error in the Latin).

[Tight_rope]

78. DING! DING! DING! YOU HAVE A BINGO!

This whole Israel/Lebanon fighting is playing just the way Bushco planned.

[Laughing Mirror]

13. Gruesome scenes after Israeli air raids on south Lebanon

Published: 7/13/2006

TYRE - A baby was sliced into three and body parts hung from olive trees as the full force of Israeli military might hit rural southern Lebanon Thursday.

In the deadliest Israeli strikes in a decade, at least 39 people were killed....Israel's offensive, prompted by the capture of two of its soldiers by the militant group Hezbollah in a bid to secure a swap of prisoners, was the most serious since it ended 22 years of occupation in southern Lebanon in 2000.

On a charred mattress rest the remains of a burned baby girl, her arm to one side. Her upper body is at one end of the bed and her lower body at the other.

Police said the 10-month-old and six other family members were killed when an Israeli missile hit their home in the usually quiet village of Baflay, near the coastal city of Tyre.

more gruesome details ...

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=133381

[INDIA]

14. Turkishpress?

I'll take the article with a grain of salt. Especially since the opening line describes a baby sliced in thirds and hung from a tree. :eyes:

[Laughing Mirror]

20. Yes this paper reports 39 killed, while CNN reports 45

so I guess they must be pretty unreliable.

[Terran1212]

28. You roll your eyes at the TRUTH?!

The Western media won't talk about the graphic details of the Arabs dying. And you give an immature joke at it like the stupid roll-eye .gif.

[INDIA]

39. I added the "eye rolling" emoticon

because of how ridiculously biased that paper is. What kind of unbiased news outlet would START its article describing dead babies in a tree? I don't doubt that innocents are dying as a result of Israeli military actions. but a paper from a muslim nation describing (in detail) grusome scenes of dead babies? Give me a break! In the first sentence of an article? Gee, don't you think that might be trying to drum up anti-israeli sentiment among its predominantly muslim readers? It's a bunch of anti-semetic propoganda.

I wonder how much detail they went into when describing the bombing of Israeli cafes by Lebanese and Palestinian affiliated terrorists. If you can find me an article where the Turkish Press describes in detail the horror of attacks on Israel, then I'll admit I'm wrong.

I'll get my news from the BBC and CNN thank you.

[Zynx]

71. I suppose you don't give a damn about the Israelis living under constant

fear of Hezbollah rocket attacks in the north?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

51. Well, "our" side has incubator, meat grinders, and dog heads sewed on

children's decapitated bodies.

Two can play the bullshit game. And yes, I smell bullshit here too.

[puffthemagicdragon]

81. bombings are not usually clean

of course people will be mutilated, we just don't talk about that in american press.

[Marie26]

16. I'm sure Isreal

can describe in graphic detail the effects of the missiles Hezbollah fired, as well.

[Laughing Mirror]

21. One Israeli has been killed so far

nt

[FreeStateDemocrat]

30. Whatever happened to "measured response?"

[Minstrel Boy]

40. good question:

"They are killing civilians because they cannot kill Hezbollah militants. They want to bring us back to the occupation era. We cannot take this injustice any more. Will the world continue to watch them kill children without doing anything?" asked Jamil Hassan.

[AliceWonderland]

52. No, the world won't watch.

The world will applaud. Because they're just Arabs. They're not, you know, fully human.

I mean, come on. That's the subtext here, the subtext with the whole thing. No such thing as a truly innocent raghead.

If they're not terrorists, they're terrorist sympathizers or hiding terrorists or having scones with terrorists or cheering on terrorists or -- my personal favourite, the one that positively drips with hypocrisy -- not strongly enough condemning terrorists. Even if they're cooking chick peas in their kitchens, they're not *really* innocent.

It's not Israel that pisses me off. It's the dehumanization process of entire cultures, civilizations, religions. Just savage ragheads.

Why is it permissible in our society for radio DJs, t-shirt wearers, American yahoos who think they can type on a computer and string two sentences together, to posit that they will "make the desert glow"? Or "turn Baghdad into a sheet of glass"? Why are such statements of crazed, animalistic, holocaustic genocide accepted so widely? Because we turn away, or softly, gently apply the logic of Tony Soprano's wife -- well, if they were dragged in by the authorities and are brown/Arab/Muslim/whathaveyou, they must have done something to deserve it.

Right?

[progressivebydesign]

59. the toll will be much higher... you cannot accurately count now.

there's no way they could have an accurate count after bombings of that magnitude in a suburban area. I'm sure there are collapsed homes, and crushed cars, etc. So.. Israel responds to TWO soldiers being kidnapped by bombing the fuck out of another country, when the kidnapping was not by that Country, but by a group operating there? So.. a domestic terror group here pops over the border into Canada and kidnaps two soldiers, the Canadians are justified to bomb the hell out of a suburb here??? I mean.. the US govt KNOWS that these groups are here, and have not eradicated them.. then, by PNAC, Bush, and Israel logic, does that mean we deserve to be annihilated in our homes?

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

22. The End

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend
The end of our elaborate plans
The end of everything that stands
The end

No safety or surprise
The end
I'll never look into your eyes again

Can you picture what will be
So limitless and free
Desperately in need of some stranger's hand
In a desperate land

[allemand]

23. Report: Hezbollah rockets strike Haifa

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ShTickers.html

:(

[maddezmom]

24. CNNI reporting a Hezbollah rocket has hit Haifa

IDF is not commenting at this time

[Rhiannon12866]

32. CNN Breaking: Hezbollah rockets strike Israeli port

Thursday, July 13, 2006 Posted: 1719 GMT (0119 HKT)

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- Two rockets struck the northern Israeli port of Haifa Thursday as the crisis over the abduction of two Israeli soldiers deepened.

The missiles were fired from inside Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said, in a sharp escalation of attacks launched by Hezbollah guerrillas.

The firing came hours after Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's international airport and its navy began a blockade of Lebanon's ports.

Hundreds of targets from the border north to the capital were attacked, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Hezbollah guerrillas earlier fired scores of rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel in the most intense bombardment in years.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html

[CityDem]

44. The time has come

The shit rain is about to start falling on Lebanon. I wouldn't be surprised if Syria takes a beating in the next couple days as well.

[Rhiannon12866]

64. Every time I think that things can't possibly get worse in this

beleaguered part of the world, they inevitably do. Jon Stewart got it absolutely right tonight, talking about how his day started normally and then all hell broke loose in the world and the rest of the day was kind of a blur... And he made the point that we always make here. WWIII is breaking out and he showed clips of how Bush* is dealing with this. He's in Germany, grinning, and excited about having a pork dinner...:grr:

And you're absolutely about Syria. This administration has been looking for an excuse to do something about them ever since Bush* made his "axis of evil" speech. But I saw the Syrian ambassador on both CNN and MSNBC, tonight, and he wasn't taking this lying down, LOL! The guy was great, didn't take any crap from Blitzer, pointing out the failures of this administration in helping the peace process move forward and the double standard that they have had in dealing with Israel and the Arab countries... He was very articulate and emphatic in explaining this to Blitzer...:D

[uppityperson]

26. Reuters says 50 civilians killed >110 wounded

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-13T145800Z_01_L11538533_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST.xml
Sustained air strikes in south Lebanon killed more than 50 civilians and wounded 110 people, security sources said. Ten members of a family were killed in Dweir village and seven family members died in Baflay.

A Lebanese army soldier was also killed. Israeli air strikes on Wednesday killed two civilians and a Hizbollah fighter. Two dozen bridges have been hit, with most heavily damaged...

[saigon68]

31. Sounds like a WAR to me

[Marie26]

37. Both sides call attacks "Acts of War"

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Two rockets struck the northern Israeli port of Haifa Thursday as the crisis over the abduction of two Israeli soldiers deepened.

The missiles were fired from inside Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces said, in a sharp escalation of attacks launched by Hezbollah guerrillas.

Some 45 people and two soldiers have been killed inside Lebanon since Wednesday, the country's health ministry said, while the rocket attacks killed at least one woman in Israel.

Lebanon also said 103 people were hurt by the Israeli attacks, The Associated Press reported, while the IDF said 90 people had been injured by the rockets hitting Israel. One rocket attack on the northern Israeli town of Nahariya on Thursday hit a group of journalists, the AP said.

Both Israel and Lebanon have said the violence amounts to "acts of war."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html

Breaking news is that Hezbollah denies firing the rocket that hit Haifa.

[uppityperson]

41. Is "acts of war"like "acts of genocide"(Rwanda)?

[Englander]

34. CHRONOLOGY-Israel's interventions in Lebanon

13 Jul 2006 11:40:21 GMT
Source: Reuters

July 13 (Reuters) - Israel struck Beirut airport and blockaded Lebanese ports on Thursday, intensifying reprisals that have killed 52 civilians since Lebanese Hizbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight a day earlier.

Here is a short chronology of previous Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

December 1968 - Israeli commandos blow up 13 passenger planes on tarmac of Beirut airport, in reprisal for an attack by Lebanese-trained Palestinians on an Israeli airliner in Athens.

April 1973 - Israeli elite troops, including former prime minister Ehud Barak disguised as a woman, entered Beirut flats and shot dead three Palestinian guerrilla officials.

March 1978 - Israel invades south Lebanon and sets up occupation zone. Most troops withdraw within weeks, leaving behind a 10-km (six-mile) wide zone held by Israel's Lebanese Christian allies, the South Lebanon Army (SLA).

>snip

June 1982 - Israel invades Lebanon. Syrian army ousted from Beirut and thousands of Palestinian guerrillas under Yasser Arafat leave by sea after bloody 10 week-siege.

September 1982 - Israel captures Beirut after pro-Israeli Christian leader Bashir Gemayel, who days earlier had been elected president, was assassinated. Hundreds of civilians in Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila are killed by Christian militiamen allowed in by Israeli troops.

May 1983 - Israel and Lebanon sign peace agreement under U.S. patronage. Syria opposes it, and it is never ratified.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L13828799.htm

[zonkers]

38. I wish Israeli offensive had a specific goal other than "blockade the

country and randomly hit targets" until they achieve compliance. It is too open ended, could go on for months and months and is just bad all the way around.

[The Stranger]

49. 911 was to Iraq what the captured soldiers are to this invasion.

Pretense for launching an unjustified invasion of another country.

[nguoihue]

65. The Stranger is exactly right

911 was the neocon's Pearl Harbor. The captured soldiers is the follow-up, a pretext for war on Syria and Iran. The world's real axis of evil runs through Washington, London and Tel-Aviv.

[bdamomma]

45. you can also read it here

More innocent civilians and children getting killed for what, War, what is it good for, absolutely nothing.


http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage


Scores killed as Israel strikes Lebanon


Thursday 13 July 2006, 19:35 Makka Time, 16:35 GMT


The Israeli attacks was the fiercest since 1996


Israeli air strikes in Lebanon have killed 53 civilians as Hezbollah fighters fired rockets at towns across northern Israel.



Israel struck Beirut airport early on Thursday and began enforcing a naval blockade of Lebanon, expanding reprisals since Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.



Police said 52 Lebanese civilians, including 15 children, were killed in attacks on Hezbollah targets in Beirut's southern suburbs and across southern Lebanon.

[Marie26]

47. Now have attacked airport twice.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli forces struck Beirut's international airport for the second time Thursday, hitting fuel tanks that exploded into fireballs.

The attack came soon after two rockets struck the northern Israeli port of Haifa on a day of spiraling violence and deepening crisis.

[Marie26]

48. Israeli aircraft strike Beirut to Damascus road

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday, a Lebanese security source said.

The jets struck at least five separate times along different points of the international route, the source said.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties and witnesses said the road was clear of traffic after earlier congestion as tourists fled Lebanon to neighboring Syria.

Israeli officials said on Thursday that Israeli forces planned to strike the key highway as part of an assault aimed at retrieving two soldiers seized by Lebanese Hizbollah guerrillas.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-07-13T215515Z_01_L13826505_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-LEBANON-HIGHWAY.xml

And it just keeps going.

[enigmacat]

50. I just saw that on CNN

I can't believe that the world is standing by and letting this happen.

[Marie26]

68. Me either. nt

[IndianaGreen]

53. And the Apostle Paul was knocked off his horse on the way to Damascus

This is one of those weird days in which I wonder aloud if the world would have been better off had the Bible never been written.

[Marie26]

54. Update: Israeli warplanes hit Beirut suburb

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli warplanes early Friday bombed southern Beirut, home to the offices of Hezbollah and the group's leader, as the Israeli-Lebanese violence that has killed dozens of Lebanese civilians and 10 Israelis entered its third day.

Lebanese police said the planes hit the airport road, which crosses through the southern district considered a Hezbollah stronghold.

A Lebanese army official said bombs also hit two bridges in the southern suburbs of the capital and a stadium.

Earlier, Israel had dropped leaflets warning residents to stay away from the Hezbollah offices in southern Beirut, where Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is thought to live.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/13/mideast/index.html

And going...

[progressivebydesign]

57. Doesn't anyone fight wars the old way? Must they bomb the innocents?

Shit.. it just seems so damn cowardly to use bombs and missiles. If these people insist on wiping each other out.. could they at least try hand to hand combat for once? And leave the innocents out of this? Cuz now what have we got? Another fucking suburb blown to bits.. more innocents killed.. more lives disrupted..more people plunged in poverty.

Religion and men = the end of the world.

[cali]

62. 'twas never that way n/t

[Marie26]

67. It does

Yeah, I agree w. you. Hizbollah & Israel can fight a grudge match if they want to, but leave civilians out of it. These bombing/missile campaigns will mostly only hurt innocent people. The worst part is, it looks like Israel missed the Hizbollah offices they were aiming at last night, and only destroyed civilian buildings. And this morning, Israel widened the attacks on Beirut, hitting more than 18 targets, attacking the Beirut airport again. Hizbollah has shot even more missiles into Israel. This is just madness. It seems like both sides see civilians as targets.

[Zynx]

72. Most wars of the 20th century had nothing to do with religion.

It's so convenient to blame religion even though it is rarely at the root cause of any conflict. Israel and Palestine are an exception to this rule and a special one at that.

[progressivebydesign]

58. Some officials will do anything to divert attention from a sex scandal..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060712/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_presidential_scandal_1

Shit.. does anyone here remember the rightwingnuts accusing Clinton of bombing countries to divert attention from his sex scandal?

[Marie26]

66. "Israel hits Beirut airport again" - campaign widens

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel struck Beirut airport again on Friday and bombed Lebanese roads, power supplies and communication networks in a widening campaign after Hizbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.

Hizbollah, which wants to trade its captives for prisoners held in Israel, has showered rockets across the frontier in its fiercest bombardment since 1996 when Israel launched a 17-day blitz against southern Lebanon and Hizbollah.

President Bush telephoned Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and assured him he was pressing Israel to "contain the damage" to Lebanon and avoid civilian casualties, Siniora's office said in a statement. Siniora urged Bush to get Israel to halt its attack, agree to a ceasefire and lift its blockade...

Israeli aircraft rocketed runways at Beirut's international airport and bombed a flyover just to the south, witnesses said. The airport has been shut since runways and fuel tanks were hit on Thursday. Four planes of Lebanon's Middle East Airlines had taken off empty for Amman shortly before the latest raids.

Israeli warplanes blasted the main Beirut-Damascus highway overnight, tightening an air, sea and land blockade of Lebanon, and bombed targets in Beirut's teeming Shi'ite Muslim suburbs, killing three people and wounding 40, security sources said.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-14T113018Z_01_L11538533_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage2