Region | Lebanon
Land invasion not ruled out
Israel refuses to rule out the possibility of a ground invasion as attacks continue for a seventh day in Lebanon, killing at least eleven people, including a family of seven.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:33 May 3, 2009
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Beirut: At least 11 people were killed in air strikes on Tuesday morning, as Israel took its offensive in Lebanon into a seventh day.
Hezbollah retaliated by firing at least six rockets into Israel's Haifa city. No casualties were reported.
Before Tuesday, 120 rockets a day had hit northern Israel, killing a total of 12 people since the crisis began a week ago.
Meanwhile, a truck carrying medical supplies donated by the United Arab Emirates was hit and its driver killed on the Beirut-Damascus highway, the Health Ministry said.
South of Lebanon, seven members of one family were among the dead after an attack, taking the Lebanese civilian toll to more than 200.
Israeli jets have pounded south Beirut, but also struck a Lebanese army position just outside the capital city causing several injuries.
The coastal town of Byblos and the eastern town of Baalbek were also targetted in Tuesday morning's raids. As many as 100,000 Lebanese citizens have fled their homes and moved to safer areas to escape the violence.
French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who has travelled to Beirut to express solidarity joined the calls for a truce. Russia is also to send a deputy foreign minister to Middle East to facilitate a possible truce.
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But Israel's army has refused to rule out the possibility of further escalation, including a ground invastion of Lebanon.
Moshe Kaplinsky, Israel's deputy army chief, said: "The army has many possibilities for action. At this stage we do not think we have to activate massive ground forces into Lebanon but if we have to do this, we will. We are not ruling it out."
A poll in the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth daily showed 86 per cent of Israelis supported believed the army's attacks on Lebanon were justified.
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