And they want peace, yea right. Who are the Israelis fooling ? oh that's right us!



August 20, 2006
Truce Strained as Israelis Raid Lebanon Site
By ROBERT F. WORTH and JOHN KIFNER

BOUDAI, Lebanon, Aug. 19 — Helicopter-borne Israeli commandos landed near the Hezbollah stronghold of Baalbek on Saturday and engaged in a lengthy firefight in what the Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, called a “flagrant violation” of the cease-fire brokered by the United Nations.
The United Nations issued a statement that Secretary General Kofi Annan also considered the raid a violation and was “deeply concerned.”
The Israelis said “the aim of the operation had been to disrupt terrorist activities against Israel and to prevent arms from being transported to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria.” Any such resupply effort would itself violate the Security Council cease-fire resolution.
The raid took place overnight under the cover of sonic booms from Israeli jets flying overhead, which occur often over Lebanon. But this time they masked the sound of helicopters bringing in the commando unit and two Humvee vehicles. Villagers said the soldiers were dressed in Lebanese Army uniforms.
The success of the effort was a matter of dispute. One Israeli special operations officer was killed and two commandos were wounded, one seriously, but an Israeli Army spokesman in Jerusalem said the “objectives had been attained in full.”
Villagers said otherwise. “They failed completely,” said Sadiq Hamdi, 36, a scrap-iron dealer. “They were still on the road when the Hezbollah came upon them. They did not take 1 percent of what they were trying to do.”
The Israeli Army said it would continue such raids until “proper monitoring bodies are established on the Lebanese borders,” another task for the United Nations forces in Lebanon. On Friday, a top Israeli commander warned that Israel would halt any resupply efforts and vowed to kill the Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. [Page 6.]
Lebanon’s defense minister, Elias Murr, said that if Israel carried out any more raids, he would ask the cabinet to halt the Lebanese Army’s deployment in the south. That deployment — now being bolstered by United Nations peacekeeping forces — is the cornerstone of the cease-fire, and ending it could end the delicate truce between Israel and Hezbollah that has held since Monday.
Suleiman Chamas, 38, the mayor of this village about 10 miles west of Baalbek, gave the following account.
The disguised commandos landed in the eastern foothills of the Mount Lebanon range, loaded into Humvees and drove east on a road called Ayoun Semman, where they encountered a roadblock guarded by local Hezbollah fighters.
The commandos shouted in Arabic, “Peace be with you, we’re one of yours,” and tried to pass the roadblock without stopping. The guerrillas started shooting and chased them. The commandos turned onto a dirt road, and a gun battle broke out, drawing more villagers.
“The whole village came down, both those who could shoot and those who cannot,” Mayor Chamas said.
Fighter jets and helicopters fired rockets and, within about 40 minutes, evacuated the commandos, he said. Left behind were two fresh craters in the rich red Bekaa Valley soil, signs of casualties — large bloodstains, syringes and surgical masks — and what the villagers said was some kind of device to guide the helicopters. Villagers reported no casualties on the Lebanese side.
Yahya Ali, 30, wearing a red shirt and carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, was one of a number of villagers who said the Israeli commandos had been dressed like Lebanese soldiers.
He said they had been wearing the mostly green woodland camouflage uniforms that are standard issue for the Lebanese Army, along with olive-green flak jackets and green helmets, also standard issue. Israeli soldiers wear a solid brownish uniform with brown body armor and helmets.
Mr. Ali said he could see the uniform clearly because in the rescue the helicopters and Humvees had bright lights turned on.
The boldness of the raid during the truce suggested the Israelis might have had some major objective in mind, perhaps the rescue of their two captured comrades or the capture of a major Hezbollah figure. Boudai is the home village of Sheik Muhammad Yazbeck, a senior Hezbollah leader and member of the group’s Shura Council. The Israeli Army later said it had not captured him and denied his capture was the objective, The Associated Press reported.
The village was the scene of a funeral Friday for a Hezbollah guerrilla, Mahmoud Ahmed Asef, who had died fighting in Bint Jbail. Such funerals sometimes draw leaders.
In Israel, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said, “If the Syrians and the Iranians continue to arm Hezbollah in violation of the resolution, Israel is entitled to act to defend the principle of the arms embargo.”
But in a statement on the United Nations Web site, Mr. Annan’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the secretary general considered the raid a violation of the resolution and it followed “several air violations.” Such violations, he said, “endanger the fragile calm.”
Hours before the raid, Mr. Annan appealed to Europe in particular to supply troops for the newly expanded United Nations force, which is supposed to grow to 15,000 from about 1,990 and help the Lebanese Army patrol southern Lebanon.
The appeal, the raid and the alleged renewal of arms supplies also underscore the tenuous condition of the cease-fire, which seemed to conclude a 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah with an international commitment to exclude the Hezbollah militia from Lebanon south of the Litani River and to disarm it.