Israeli planes hit Christian areas around Beirut

[tocqueville]

by Stuart Williams
1 hour, 45 minutes ago

BEIRUT (AFP) - Israeli warplanes pounded Christian areas north of Beirut as well as Shiite Muslim areas to the south of the city, despite a threat by Hezbollah to rocket Tel Aviv in retaliation.

While the UN Security Council struggled to set terms for a ceasefire, three Israeli soldiers were reported killed in south Lebanon, a day after the Israeli army admitted the Jewish state had suffered its "hardest day" in the three-week-old conflict, with four military and eight civilian dead Friday.

Israeli jets wrecked four bridges on the coastal highway leading north from Beirut, effectively cutting the last practicable road between the Lebanese capital and the Syrian border.

The Lebanese Red Cross said five civilians were killed and 15 were wounded but other bodies might be trapped beneath rubble which cascaded down the mountainside below the highway.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflict_060804095609

[malaise]

1. And they want my

sympathy. They bombed four bridges in the Christian area trapping all civilians. Fugg Israel, the US and Britain.

Meanwhile from article
King Abdullah of Jordan publicly criticised the US and Israel over the fighting in Lebanon

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5242898.stm

Edit -add.

[breakaleg]

10. they aren't getting my sympathy either.

Israel is going to have to lie in this bed they made for themselves.

[uppityperson]

18. Humanitarian situation and aid summary, link

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/115348060912.htm

AlertNet is tracking the work of aid agencies providing relief in Lebanon, and updates this directory regularly. Click here for the latest details on who's working in the region, including press contact information for journalists.

Here's an overview of the humanitarian situation as of Aug. 4:

* Some 900 people have been killed and 3,000 wounded in Lebanon so far, with a third of the casualties children under 12, according to a statement by the country's prime minister, Fouad Siniora. Reuters gives a more conservative estimate, reporting that at least 720 people have been killed as of Aug. 4. Around a million people (25 percent of the country's population) have been displaced by the conflict, according to the Lebanese government.

* Key roads and bridges were bombed north of Beirut on Aug. 4, cutting a vital supply and evacuation route to Syria. The bombing of the highway between Beirut and Syria could "sever the vital humanitarian lifeline" into the country, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) warned. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR is among the agencies that has a supply base in Syria and has been dependent on the destroyed highway for its relief transports. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), which is helping stranded migrants leave the country, is now looking for alternative roads with the help of Lebanese authorities...(much more @ link)

[Philosoraptor]

2. Good luck with this post.

Some may see it as biased and inflammatory.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[furman]

8. Israel is trying to cut off Hezbollah supply lines

not "ethnic cleansing".

Please think very carefully before making accusations of "ethinc cleansing".
It is highly offensive to many people and has deep connotations.

[malaise]

15. Israel is terrorizing a population

There is no other interpretation.

[jonnyblitz]

17. sometimes the truth is offensive and these "many people"

will just have to get over it.

[tocqueville]

4. UN + AFP + Red Cross = Hezbollah

it's common knowledge. Besides the sarcasm, the TV pictures will talk fo themselves tonight. Oh I forgot they'd probably won't be shown in the US (or called Muslim areas) or anyway called "staged".

Do you know that there are plenty of refugees in those areas and when there are no Imams to say the last prayers for the dead, the Muslims call for Christian Maronites priests to do it ? Do you know that Lebanon"s Shiites (and Shiites in general and even Sunnis) revere the Virgin Mary and consider her as a saint ? Do you know that Notre Dame du Liban (Our Lady of Lebanon),is one of the holiest pilgrim sites in that part of Islam where Maronites and Muslim worship together ?

I bet the next bombs will hit the shrine....

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. How many RW christians in the US will complain? not a one, I'd bet

not when rapture, armageddon and "left behind" stories are selling so well.

[IronLionZion]

9. Those Lebanese Christians will have to be martyrs for the cause

American wingnuts are willing to sacrifice a few Lebanese.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

14. them, and most of us, too. So much for their humanity, empathy,

fill in the blank.

[ananda]

6. They also got the bridges..

.. out of Beirut to the north.

Watch out Tel Aviv, watch out world!

Sue

[Mr_Spock]

7. Great - I wonder how my Christian Armenian relatives are feeling there?

I bet they are not so happy at this time :(

[Dob Bole]

11. The RW didn't care about 700,000 Christians in and around Baghdad...

Why would they care now? (Not that the life of a Christian is more valuable than the life of anyone else, but you would think the RW would see things that way...)

[Generic Other]

12. So who will the fundie rightwingers support now?

Cause I have a feeling that the Christians of Lebanon do not support Hezbollah.

[TahitiNut]

13. Isn't it obvious that Hizb'allah uses Christians as human shields?

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. my thoughts exactly

:crazy:

[tocqueville]

19. the truth is that there are indeed refugees among Xians

but French TV was unanimous : Israel targets Xians areas empty of Hezbollah with the sole purpose of starting a civil war.