Lebanon under Israeli attack: Sunday Roundup

BEIRUT: Lebanon accused Israel on Sunday of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians in its military offensive against the country. President Emile Lahoud said Israeli forces have fired "phosphorus incendiary bombs, which are a blatant violation of international laws, ...against Lebanese civilians." He called on the United Nations to help "deter Israel from using destructive weapons which violate human rights and the United Nations charter." In an extraordinary meeting earlier Sunday, the Lebanese government also accused Israel of using banned weapons against Lebanese civilians. "We are facing a real annihilation carried out by Israel," Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told reporters after the cabinet meeting. "Israel is using internationally prohibited weapons against civilians," he said. Military sources said that Israel had used phosphorus incendiary bombs and implosion bombs, which suck up the air and collapse buildings. – AFP

HAIFA: Israel does not plan to reoccupy Lebanon, Defence Minister Amir Peretz reaffirmed Sunday after the military confirmed it had sent commandos across the border into Lebanon. "We do not want to reoccupy Lebanon, we have other means of operating," he told reporters in Haifa, hours after eight people were killed in a Hezbollah rocket attack on the northern city. "We do not want to get bogged down in the Lebanese quagmire," he said. The Israeli army confirmed Sunday that its special forces were operating on the ground in Lebanon, in conjunction with air and sea forces, on the fifth day of its offensive aimed at crippling the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. – AFP

BEIRUT: Hezbollah denied Sunday Israeli reports that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had been wounded in a Beirut air raid. "We deny categorically that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has been injured," a Hezbollah official said following the Israeli media reports. "This is mere Israel propaganda." Israel's privately run Channel Two television had reported that Nasrallah had been wounded in the latest raid. Israeli government ministers have made no bones about their desire to see the Hezbollah leader eliminated. "He can benefit from no immunity. We will wipe him out at the first opportunity. That's why he had better pray to Allah," Zeev Boim, minister for immigration and an ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Saturday. General Gadi Eisenkraut, operations chief at Israel's central command, told army radio the military was checking the reports that Nasrallah had been hurt. "According to our evaluations, he was in a bunker several dozen metres (yards) underground in the Dahiya neighbourhood," the general said. Army radio reported that analyses of Nasrallah's voice in recent telephone conversations suggested "very high tension" and "psychological distress". The radio charged that he had not been seen in public since last Wednesday. Questioned on public radio, another Israeli general, Yonantan Locker, confirmed the air force had the capability to "destroy bunkers". "We have already done it and we will continue to do it," he said, declining to comment on Nasrallah's health or whereabouts. – AFP

EDDAH: Saudi Arabia has pledged 50 million dollars in immediate aid to Lebanon, after Lebanon's government appealed for international help, SPA official news agency reported Sunday. "In response to the appeal of Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz has ordered an immediate transfer of 50 million dollars to be at the PM's disposal," it said. SPA said the aid package is aimed at helping the Lebanese government provide relief and needed services "to reduce the suffering of our brotherly Lebanese people." Late Saturday, Siniora declared Lebanon a "devastated zone" and asked for international help, after Israeli raids killed more than 100 people and ravaged the country's newly-built infrastructure. Oil-rich Kuwait later announced it was sending urgent relief aid worth 20 million dollars to Lebanon, an official statement said. "The cabinet decided to allocate 20 million dollars to send urgent relief aid to brothers in Lebanon to help them confront the impact of this barbaric (Israeli) aggression," the statement said following the weekly cabinet meeting. – AFP

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