Fresh wave of attacks puts civilian death toll over 300
| At least 65 civilians and one Hizbullah fighter were killed in a new wave of Israeli attacks against Southern and Eastern Lebanon Wednesday, raising the death toll to about 300 civilians. |
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Twenty-one Lebanese civilians were killed and 30 others wounded in raids on the village of Srifa near the southern port city of Tyre, where 13 houses in the Najdi quarter were destroyed, security sources said.
Medical sources had earlier reported that at least 25 people were feared dead under the ruins, stressing the difficulty of reaching the region as all the roads were cut.
Six people were also killed when a missile struck a neighborhood in the Southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh. The target was a commercial office of a firm belonging to Hizbullah, but those killed were residents. Lebanese woman Wouroud Hamed, 35, her three children, a Sri Lankan and a Sudanese national were killed in the early-morning air raids, leaving Itihad Bitar, Mahdi Hamed and Azzam Yassin wounded.
Also in Nabatieh, Israel opened artillery fire at many villages, including Ain Arab, Wazani and the Kfar Shuba highway, where Mohammad Qadiri was killed.
More Israeli missiles landed in two towns outside Beirut - Choueifat and Hadath. One person was killed at the Galerie Semaan junction, near Hadath, police said.
Four civilians were killed when Israeli warplanes struck three cars loaded with evacuees from Aitaroun, leaving several others wounded.
Another two civilians were killed and two others wounded in a strike on the Southern border town of Rmaish.
Eight civilians were killed in Nabi Sheet, near Baalbek, where Israeli air raids targeted the house of Mohammad Hussein Shokr, who died along with his wife and four children. The attack also claimed the life of Ali Choucair and his wife, two emigrants from the Southern region of Mayss al-Jabal, leaving three others wounded.
Five civilians - Mowafak and Diab Yahya, Faydallah and Shakib Mustafa and Ahmad Hammoud Oufi - were killed when Israeli planes raided Maaraboun, near Baalbek and close to Syria, leaving Mahmoud Mrad and Ali Jaafar wounded.
Sources said that Riad Ali Qassab, who was wounded Tuesday in Al-Haoush, died Wednesday morning.
In Tyre, Assad Habs was killed on Bazourieh highway when Israeli warplanes struck his motorcycle. Hayat Elias Farah was killed in bombardments on Alma al-Chaab and her brother Fadi was wounded.
In Salaa, another village near Tyre, the bodies of five members of the same family were retrieved from under the rubble of their house, which was completely destroyed during another Israeli air raid.
Meanwhile, rockets fired by Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon killed two children Wednesday in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth and wounded 18 people. The Arabiyya satellite television channel said the victims were Israeli Arabs. Hizbullah television said three Israeli soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in clashes on the Lebanon-Israel border, bringing the number of Israeli troops killed to 12. The civilian death toll in Israel currently stands at 15.
Beirut
20-07-2006
Daniella Matar
The Daily Star
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