Israel sends tanks into Lebanon after Hezbollah attack
Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Posted: 2:57 p.m. EDT (18:57 GMT)
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Hezbollah guerrillas killed seven Israeli soldiers and captured two more Wednesday, triggering Israeli airstrikes and military raids inside southern Lebanon, Israeli officials said.
The Israeli military said its land, air and naval forces had hit at least eight Hezbollah bases and five bridges in the southern Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Cabinet was expected to approve more military action Wednesday evening, as Israel warned it would unleash its "utmost power" to retrieve its soldiers.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told reporters that "direct negotiations" would be the only way to return the soldiers and that their capture was "our natural, only and logical right."
He demanded the soldiers be swapped for "our prisoners" held by Israel. A demand for Israel to release Palestinians from its jails has been made by Palestinian militants who captured another Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, last month. (Watch gunfire and smoke as Israeli troops enter southern Lebanon -- 2:55)
Nasrallah said the two soldiers taken Wednesday had been moved to "a faraway place."
Israel has exchanged prisoners with Hezbollah before, most recently in 2004. But this time, Israeli leaders have said there will be no deals.
Olmert told reporters that the killings and abductions were "not a terror attack but an operation of a sovereign state without any reason or provocation."
Olmert said the Hezbollah attacks were an "act of war" and blamed the Lebanese government, which he said would be held responsible.
The prime minister promised a "very painful and far-reaching" response, The Associated Press reported.
There have been only sporadic border clashes since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in 2000 after 22 years of occupation.
Three of the seven soldiers who were killed Wednesday died during fighting with Hezbollah along the Israeli-Lebanese border, and four were killed later as Israeli troops moved into southern Lebanon, said Israel Defense Forces.
The Israel Defense Forces urged citizens in northern villages to take shelter as the violence escalated. Four Israeli civilians and six soldiers have been wounded in the fighting so far, the IDF reported.
In a claim broadcast on Hezbollah's television channel, Hezbollah said it had "destroyed" an Israeli tank crossing into the region.
Thunder and smoke
The valleys along the Israeli-Lebanese border thundered with artillery fire and clouds of blue-gray smoke could be seen rising above Lebanese positions.
Israeli forces, observers said, were bombing roads, bridges and guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon in an attempt to prevent guerrillas from moving the troops deeper into Lebanon.
Israeli forces are also responding to rocket attacks fired by Hezbollah into northern Israel, according to the army.
Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, the chief of Israel's Northern Command, told reporters that Israel had "expanded and comprehensive plans" to battle Hezbollah in Lebanon, and said dozens of Hezbollah targets had been hit already.
"This affair is between Israel and the state of Lebanon," he said. "Where to attack? Once it is inside Lebanon, everything is legitimate -- not just southern Lebanon, not just the line of Hezbollah posts."
Hezbollah, Lebanon, Syria and Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned Hezbollah for its action and singled out Syria, which she said has a "special responsibility to use its influence to support a positive outcome."
State Department officials said the United States recognizes that there is little the Lebanese government can do to control Hezbollah.
While the United States sees Lebanon's government, which includes Hezbollah in its Cabinet, as an important interlocutor with Hezbollah, State Department officials have said they recognize that Lebanon does not have the capacity to expand its authority into the south, where Hezbollah has control.
These officials said the United States is holding Syria and Iran responsible for support of Hezbollah.
'We will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years'
Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told Israeli Channel 10, "If the soldiers are not returned we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years."
It is the latest skirmish between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose forces traded cross-border fire in late May following the assassination of an Islamic Jihad official in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon.
Mahmoud Majzoub, also known as Abu Hamza, was killed in a car bombing, which Islamic Jihad blamed on Israel. Israel denied any involvement in the incident.
Hezbollah is designated a terrorist group by the United States and Israel but is a significant player in Lebanon's fractious politics.
Israel set up a security buffer zone in southern Lebanon from 1978 until 2000.
CNN's Elise Labott contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
