Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:20am ET136
Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon despite U.N. voteBEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli forces thrust deeper into Lebanon against fierce Hizbollah resistance on Saturday and air strikes killed up to 20 people, hours after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution to end the month-old war.
Relief officials said Israel was still denying permission for aid convoys to reach distressed civilians in the south.
Air strikes in the south killed up to 15 people in the village of Rshaf and four civilians in Kharayeb, security sources said. Raids in the Bekaa Valley killed one civilian.
Israeli bombs also hit Beirut's suburbs, roads in the north, electricity pylons near Sidon, the Beirut-Damascus highway and the southern city of Tyre, witnesses and security sources said.
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-08-12T123748Z_01_L07726695_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST.xml&pageNumber=1&imageid=&cap=&sz=13&WTModLoc=NewsArt-C1-ArticlePage1Israel has nearly tripled the number of forces in Lebanon2/08/2006
Israel Defense Forces troops were engaged in heavy exchanges of fire with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Saturday, as troops pushed northward to the Litani River under cover of intense artillery fire.
Israel has nearly tripled the number of forces in Lebanon as part of its expanded ground war in Lebanon, and expects to fight for another week, despite a United Nations cease-fire resolution, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz on Saturday.
After the unanimous United Nations Security Council vote Friday on the cease-fire resolution,
Israel launched an expanded ground offensive in south Lebanon. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will present the cease-fire resolution to the cabinet Sunday.
IAF strikes and ground assaults kill at least 19 across Lebanon
Israel Air Force air strike and IDF ground attacks continued on Saturday, with missiles and artillery killing at least 19 people across Lebanon, mostly in the south.
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/749479.htmlIsrael pushes deeper after UN voteAugust 12, 2006. 10:20pm
Military officials say up to four divisions, containing as many as 40,000 troops, will fight in the expanded offensive.
Further north in Kharayeb, medical sources say an Israeli air strike targeting a pick-up truck has killed at least four civilians.
Security sources say several people were killed and more wounded in an earlier air strike on the Lebanese village of Rshaf.
Witnesses have reported heavy shelling in many areas of south Lebanon, including villages north of the Litani River.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1713591.htmIDF dispatches large forces in airlift to LebanonIt was cleared for publication that the Israeli Air Force dispatched large forces in airlift deep into south Lebanese territory on Friday night, in the framework of expanding the military offensive in the area.
IDF sources describe the operation as the largest carried out by the army in recent years. (Hanan Greenberg)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3290072,00.htmlIsrael Widens Airstrikes Into Lebanon Saturday, August 12, 2006
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli warplanes launched wide-ranging airstrikes and sent commandos into the Hezbollah heartland Saturday while the U.N. raced to begin enforcing its new cease-fire blueprint and stop the fighting. Airstrikes killed at least 15 people in one Lebanese village.
Israel also blasted a highway near Lebanon's last open border crossing to Syria as it kept up its full-scale campaign against Hezbollah militants. Long columns of Israeli tanks, troops and armored personnel carriers streamed over the border.
In Sidon, a coastal city between Beirut and the Israeli border, Israeli bombs destroyed a power plant. Farther south, another power facility was hit near Tyre, knocking out electricity to the port, police said.
On Lebanon's northern frontier, Israeli airstrikes hit the highway leading to the Arida border crossing about a mile from the Mediterranean coast. It's the last official border post open for humanitarian convoys and civilians fleeing the country. The highway was impassable, but drivers tried to maneuver through ruts and ditches.
The only other exits from Lebanon are rugged pathways and back roads through deserts or mountains.
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2006/08/12/ap/international/d8jerjj00.txtHezbollah Rockets Attack Northern Israel; 5 Hurt 08-12-060825ET
JERUSALEM (AP)--Hezbollah rockets injured at least five people in Israel on Saturday afternoon after a rocket-free morning, medics said.
A direct hit on a house in Amirim, a northern Israel community, injured two people who were hit by shrapnel. Another strike in the northern town of Kiryat Shemona injured three people.
By mid-afternoon, the army reported 20 rocket strikes on Israel. Hezbollah had been averaging nearly 200 hits each day in its monthlong conflict with Israel.
The Israeli army said Saturday it had destroyed several Hezbollah rocket launchers and killed more than 40 guerrillas on Friday. Israel announced it had nearly tripled the number of troops operating in southern Lebanon - to around 30,000 - just as members of the U.N. Security Council agreed on a cease-fire deal in New York.
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