Israel resumes airstrikes on Beirut

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Written by david

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Powerful explosions shattered the early morning peace in Beirut on Thursday -- airstrikes which announced a resumption of attacks on Hezbollah strongholds in the city's southern suburbs.

The strikes began just after 2 a.m. local time. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it was targeting Hezbollah sites in southern Beirut.

The airstrikes followed a battle late Wednesday between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas near Aita Al-Shaab in southern Lebanon.

Also Wednesday, the Shiite militant group pounded northern Israel with rockets, killing a civilian and wounding seven others, the IDF said.

Some 215 rockets were fired across the Israeli-Lebanese border, the IDF said.

One rocket landed in the Palestinian-controlled area of the northern West Bank, marking the southernmost point Hezbollah rockets have reached from southern Lebanon, Israeli police said.

Airstrikes continue

Israeli jets also pounded a Lebanese army position west of Sidon, killing a soldier and injuring several others, according to the Lebanese army. (Watch Lebanese racing to get out of range -- 1:51)

Early Wednesday, an airstrike hit the village of Al Jamaliyeh as the IDF was raiding a nearby hospital in Baalbeck, The Associated Press reported. A missile hit the home of Mayor Hussein Jamaleddin, killing his son, brother and five other relatives, according to AP.

"Where is the press? Where is the media to see this massacre? Count our dead. Count our body parts," Jamaleddin told AP.

Also, a mother, father and their five children were killed in another air raid near Al Jamaliyeh and a van driver was killed when a missile struck nearby, witnesses told AP.

Hospital attack details disputed

Israel's military released video Wednesday that it said proved the Baalbeck hospital was a Hezbollah headquarters. Hezbollah disputed the account.

Israeli special forces captured five militants and killed 10 others, Israel's army said.

Hezbollah, however, said Israel arrested five civilians who were not members of the Islamic militia.

Israeli video of the scene appeared to show weapons that Israeli soldiers discovered during a search of the hospital, located about 70 miles north of the Israeli border. (Watch Israeli video of the nighttime raid -- 1:34)

"The IDF and the air force demonstrated their long arm, their ability to reach everywhere that Hezbollah sees fit to situate itself, even if it chooses a hospital as its headquarters," said Israeli Brig. Gen. Yohanan Loker.

Other images showed Israeli commandos rifling through file cabinets in an office inside the hospital, where the IDF said it found ammunition and weapons. (Watch Israeli troops storm the hospital -- 2:33)

Lebanese authorities reported 603 civilians and soldiers have been killed and 2,145 others have been wounded in the Israeli military campaign. The Israeli military operation has displaced almost 900,000 people and has caused $2 billion in damage to the Lebanese infrastructure -- not counting damage to buildings -- according to the Lebanese government.

Israel's military reported 55 deaths -- including 19 civilians -- and 580 injuries during the conflict.

Israel began its operation after Hezbollah militants crossed into northern Israel, kidnapped two soldiers and killed three others July 12.

Israeli media are reporting around 6,000 Israeli soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon, but the IDF would not confirm the reports.

In Gaza, where Israel is engaged in another military operation after militants there kidnapped an Israeli soldier, an airstrike hit a group of militants who were approaching Israeli forces with rocket-propelled grenades, the IDF said.

Two Hamas militants were killed in the blast and another died in a separate incident, Palestinian security sources said.

Palestinian security sources also reported clashes in Rafah, near the Gaza-Egypt border, after Israeli tanks rolled into the city. It marks the first time Israel has entered Rafah since the conflict in Gaza began June 25.

Resolution coming?

On the diplomatic front, the U.N. Security Council could consider a resolution on Lebanon as early as Thursday, British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said.

"I'm confident that by tomorrow we'd be in a position to have a discussion in the council on a text that takes us forward. The prospects now of the adoption soon of a resolution have improved considerably," he told reporters.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said countries differed on how to make a possible cessation of violence permanent, "but there is near complete agreement on the fundamental, political framework that has to be put in place."

The permanent five members of the Security Council -- France, Russia, China, Britain and the United States -- met with Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday to discuss how to stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, deliver aid to civilians and send a multinational force into the area.

One option being discussed is deploying a rapid-reaction force after a cessation of hostilities is established, U.N. and diplomatic sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because talks are ongoing.

The rapid-reaction force would secure certain areas and facilitate aid shipments into south Lebanon, one diplomat said, adding that after a political agreement and permanent cease-fire are worked out, a more expanded group of peacekeepers would be deployed.

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