A man shouts as he holds the body of Hadi Zayat, 15, who was
killed at his home in Tyre, south Lebanon July 16, 2006, after it was
targeted by Israeli air strikes. Israeli jets have pounded
Lebanon with a blistering new wave of deadly raids on July 18, the seventh
day of an assault that has killed at least 230 people and sent tens of
thousands of Lebanese and foreigners fleeing for their lives.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
LONDON, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Israel has no plans to attack Iran or Syria and the
country already has its "hands full" with Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, Israeli
Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on BBC television Tuesday.
"No, I don't think they will attack us... and we
shall not attack them because I think Iran is a world problem," Peres said when
asked whether the Jewish state would hit Iran or Syria which it accuses of
providing arms to Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas militants.
He noted that it should be up to the international
community to tackle the problem with Tehran and they wouldn't make it an
"Iranian-Israeli conflict."
The remarks came as the crisis in Lebanon entered its
second week and more than 230 people, mostly civilians, have died in the
conflict. In the meantime, Israel's operations in the Gaza Strip, aimed at
retrieving an abducted soldier and halting rocket attacks by Palestinian
militants, have lasted three weeks.
"We would not attack Lebanon either, we wouldn't
attack even Hezbollah, we wouldn't attack even Hamas if they wouldn't attack us
and they wouldn't provoke," Peres defended his government's ongoing offensives.
Enditem
Special report: New clash
between Israeli, Lebanese troops
Special report: Israel launches
Gaza assault
Related stories: Israeli PM: negotiations not ruled out
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert delivers a speech at the
Knesset, Israel 's parliament, in Jerusalem, Monday, July 17, 2006. After
six days of fighting in Lebanon, Olmert said Monday that the fighting
would end when the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas were
freed, rocket attacks on Israel stopped and the Lebanese army deployed
along the border. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) |
JERUSALEM, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Israel did not rule out
negotiations to resolve the conflict with Hezbollah, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert said when he paid a surprise visit to the rocket-battered city of Haifa
on Tuesday evening.
But the negotiations should be "on the condition the
hostages are returned and UN resolution 1559 is enforced," Olmert said in a
meeting with heads of about 60 regional councils in northern Israel, Israeli
Channel 10 TV reported. Full story>>
Israeli PM vows to continue
Lebanon assault
Israeli soldiers stand near a mobile artillery unit as it
fires into southern Lebanon from its position near the town of Kiryat
Shmona July 17, 2006. (Xinhua Photo) |
JERUSALEM, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday that Israel would continue a seven-day-old massive
assault in Lebanon until two Israeli soldiers taken hostage by Lebanon's
Hizbollah guerillas were released and rocket attacks on Israel halt. Enditem
Israeli overnight air
strike kills 10 Lebanese soldiers: reports
Rescuers carry a corpse from the rubble of residential
buildings hit by the Israeli bombardement in the southern Lebanese city of
Tyre on July 18, 2006. Israeli jets have pounded Lebanon with a blistering
new wave of deadly raids, the seventh day of an assault that has killed at
least 230 people and sent tens of thousands of Lebanese and foreigners
fleeing for their lives.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo
Gallery>> |
BEIRUT, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Israeli warplanes continued to
pound Lebanon early Tuesday as an overnight strike at a Lebanese army barracks
at Jomhour area east of Beirut killed 10 Lebanese soldiers and wounded dozens of
others, said media reports.
Lebanese military and security officials were quoted
as saying that some 10 Lebanese soldiers were killed and 40 others wounded by an
overnight Israeli air strike on a military base in Beirut's eastern suburb of
Jamhour.
The base was targeted several times during the night,
including some occurred during rescue operations, said the state ANI news
agency.
Israeli warplanes also raided another Lebanese army
base in Kfarshima, southeast of Beirut, it was reported.
Medics and police sources said at least 51 people
were killed in Israeli strikes on Monday alone, pushing the death toll from
Israel's offensive launched on July 12 to 230, most of them are civilians.
Enditem
