Online NewsHour: Update | Violence Continues in Middle East | July 20, 2006

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REGION: Middle East

TOPIC: Military

Online NewsHour

Originally Aired: July 20, 2006


	Violence Continues in Lebanon and Israel

	Reports from Lebanon and Israel describe the continuing violence in the Middle East and the evacuation process.

JONATHAN MILLER, ITV News Correspondent: This is what it looks like after you drop 23 tons of explosives on something. Israel's bunker-busting intention: to kill Hezbollah leaders it believes were holed up under what Hezbollah says was once a mosque in the south Beirut district of Bourj al-Barajneh.

The debris of war now littering the abandoned streets of Shia Muslim south Beirut. Lebanon Sunni prime minister accusing Israel of callous retribution and inflicting on his ruined country barbaric destruction and despair.

Unlike the bombs, the hatred spawned is not confined to one suburb of Beirut. We went into Bourj al-Barajneh this afternoon. There's a Palestinian refugee camp just 200 meters from where the 23 tons of bombs hit. A camp run by a hard-line Palestinian resistance group, which like Hezbollah is closely allied to Syria.

People around here aren't getting much sleep, but Khalil Nassar dismissive of the Israeli onslaught.

"All they do is bang their drums," he says. "No one is scared here, not even the children." "Are you afraid?" he asked the two boys beside them. "No," they say. "We've seen it all before," he says. "We're with Nasrallah all the way; Israel has to be defeated."

Mohammed Fneich, defiant despite the suffering Hezbollah's action has brought on Lebanon.

Minister, why don't you just give back the two soldiers and bring this to an end?

MOHAMMED FNEICH, Minister of Energy and Water, Lebanon (through translator): It is not the issue of the two soldiers abducted or a matter of releasing them, either. First of all, there are Lebanese prisoners held by the occupier, Israel. Hezbollah has shown a willingness to do an exchange of prisoners.

JONATHAN MILLER: Minister, how much influence does Iran and Syria have to end this crisis?

MOHAMMED FNEICH (through translator): The solution is easy, and it's not in the hands of Hezbollah or its allies or friends. The solution is within the hands of the U.S., who should forbid Israel from using its American-provided destructive machinery to kill people.

JONATHAN MILLER: Foreign passport holders escaping Beirut by the warship load now, international exodus in full swing. Naval vessels, ferries from all over the world in and out of Beirut port all day, fleeing from what has now become a very ugly, very deadly war.

A report from Israel

JIM LEHRER: Next, a report from Israel from ITN correspondent Kylie Morris.

KYLIE MORRIS, ITV News Correspondent: Smoke over the villages of southern Lebanon, within range of Israeli tanks and within reach of special ground forces.

This is the second day of heavy fighting: Israeli forces moving back and forth across the border with support from warplanes, and Hezbollah fighting back, claiming to have destroyed two tanks. There is no sign Israel is losing its appetite for this fight and says its objective is clear.

AVI DICHTER, Public Security Minister, Israel: Once when can accomplish it by the air force, and there's always special units on the ground, I think that there is no need to enter with military troops on the ground. But if it will be needed, we know how to do it, by all means.

KYLIE MORRIS: Smiling Defense Minister Amir Peretz gave a briefing on the border.

AMIR PERETZ, Israeli Defense Minister (through translator): We demand from the Lebanese government that, if they want sovereignty, they have to prove they have the responsibility to take responsibility.

KYLIE MORRIS: This mission has crept, no longer about recapturing the two Israeli soldiers kidnapped last week. Even Lebanese sovereignty is now up for grab. Israel's former air force commander says the current operation is the best option of the alternatives Israel has.

EITAN BEN-ELIAHU, Former Commander, Israeli Air Force: A is to do nothing and just to get on a daily basis still attacks on the north. This is obviously impossible. The other alternative was to conduct a very, very intensive, without any limitation, against the Hezbollah, as well as against the Lebanese people. We don't do that. We do it step-by-step, very carefully. We try to avoid any civilian casualties.

KYLIE MORRIS: These Israeli soldiers send their missiles into Lebanon writing "With love from Nazareth" on the side, a reference to the northern Israeli town struck by Hezbollah rockets yesterday.

But they would find inside that majority Arab town there's no love lost for their mission. There were no sirens to warn and no bunkers to shelter the Palestinian citizens of Nazareth when a Hezbollah rocket hit late yesterday.

These two young brothers, Rabbia and Mahmoud Taluzi, were killed as they played. Their father blames the Israeli government for their deaths. He says, "Ehud Olmert and his defense minister are responsible for what happened, that if Israel defends itself with force, than Hezbollah will reply with rockets."

On the streets of Gaza City, Palestinian militant groups and supporters showed their solidarity with Hezbollah, carrying banners of the group's leader, Sheik Nasrallah.


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Main: Israeli-Hezbollah Clash

Violence Continues in Lebanon and Israel

A report from Israel