The IDF began bombing Beirut's southern neighborhoods Thursday night following the firing of two rockets at the northern Israeli city of Haifa.
A pall of smoke billows after Israeli airplanes targeted a transmission antenna for the Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV, near the town of Baalbek, in the Bekaa Valley, eastern Lebanon, Thursday.
Photo: AP
Navy gunboats shelled Beirut's airport for the second time Thursday. Witnesses reported that two fuel tanks were hit, while large flames could be seen at the airport.
Following a day of Katyusha rockets raining on northern Israel on Thursday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved on Thursday night the widening of the scope of IDF targets in Lebanon.
Earlier on Thursday, the IAF dropped fliers over Beirut warning residents of the city to stay clear of Hizbullah operatives, buildings and positions.
Hizbullah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, along with almost the entire Hizbullah hierarchy, reside in the same neighborhood in southern Beirut.
Hizbullah had warned Israel on Thursday afternoon that if the IDF attacked southern Beirut, where the organization's leadership is based, it Hizbullah would target Haifa.
Soldiers killed in action in Lebanon; top row from left: Nimrod Cohen, Eyal Benin, Shani Turjeman; bottom row from left: Yaniv Bar-On, Alexei Kushnirski, Wasim Nazel.
Photo: IDF photos
"The Islamic resistance warns against targeting civilians and the infrastructure," a statement read on Hizbullah TV said. "It (resistance) specifically announces that it will quickly shell the city of Haifa and nearby areas if the southern suburbs and the city of Beirut are subjected to any direct Israeli aggression," the statement said.
Earlier Thursday the IDF struck the Beirut-Damascus highway. The road serves as the main access route between Lebanon and Syria, along which people and weapons were transferred into Lebanon.
Security officials said that the bombing of the road contributed to the siege that the IDF was laying on Lebanon by air, sea and ground, Army Radio reported.
| NORTHERN CRISIS: JPOST.COM SPECIAL COVERAGE |
|
Earlier, Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the two main army air bases in eastern and northern Lebanon near Syria's border on Thursday, police said, attacks that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel's war with Hizbullah guerrillas.
Israeli jets dropped two bombs on the runway at the Rayak air base in the eastern Beka'a Valley, damaging it, police said. There were no reports of casualties or damage to aircraft.
Rayak, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut and about 7 kilometers (4 miles) west of the Syrian border, is home to the country's main military air base and is the military headquarters in eastern Lebanon.
Planes later attacked the Qoleiat air base near the Syrian border in the north with four missiles, police said.
The strikes on the country's two air bases virtually neutralize Lebanon's air force.
Israel laid siege Thursday morning to Lebanon, shutting down the country and closing off access by air, land and sea.
IDF navy missile ships were patrolling off the Lebanese coast and preventing ships from entering Lebanon or leaving. Any ships arriving at Lebanese shores were being turned back.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Thursday morning that Israel would not allow Hizbullah to return to its positions on Lebanon's southern border. He also demanded that Lebanese forces secure the border, something they have not done to date, during comments made to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
A high-ranking IDF source said that the current operation, dubbed Operation Just Reward, would be "long" and could last up to several months, or "as long as it takes to destroy the Hizbullah's ability to launch attacks against Israel."
The IDF source said the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, would be targeted if rocket attacks continued to hit Israeli cities.
The source said that all terrorists in Dahiya, including Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah himself, were fair targets for the IDF. "We will operate against all the terrorists who operate against us," he said, warning that civilians inside Dahiya could also be hurt in a possible IDF strike. Nasrallah's family lived in the Dahiya neighborhood.
Israel warned that any armed person who came within a kilometer of the border with Israel would be fired upon.
The operation comes following a Hizbullah attack on Wednesday on the northern border that killed eight IDF soldiers and left two others in Hizbullah hands.
Al-Jazeera reported Thursday that the soldiers were alive at the time of the kidnapping, according to a Hizbullah source.
They were moved to a nearby mosque immediately after the abduction and then forced to switch clothes and taken by taxi to another location.
