The Israelis used more than 50 helicopters to ferry hundreds of commandos
into Hezbollah territory in the largest such operation in the Middle East since
the October 1973 war.
The Lebanese army said early Sunday that one of its soldiers was killed
overnight in an air raid near an army base in the southwestern area of the Bekaa
Valley.
Lebanese officials said Israeli warplanes staged three air raids around the
town of Baalbek in the northern part of the Bekaa late Saturday and Israeli jets
fired missiles at the northern entrance to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein
el-Hilweh in Sidon, south Lebanon. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Before dawn Sunday, Israeli warplanes struck sites near the Syrian border — a
bridge near the town of Halba and an unidentified target around Ali Nahri in the
eastern Bekaa Valley, Lebanese media reported. There was no word on casualties.
Israel has said its warplanes have been attacking guerrilla targets and roads in
an effort to choke off Hezbollah's supply lines.
President Bush had an eight-minute phone call Saturday with Saniora to
discuss the U.N. resolution and efforts to end hostilities. The White House
issued a statement declaring the administration was determined to vanquish the
hold of Hezbollah — and that of its Syrian and Iranian benefactors — on the
south.
"These steps are designed to stop Hezbollah from acting as a state within a
state, and put an end to Iran and Syria's efforts to hold the Lebanese people
hostage to their own extremist agenda," Bush said. "This in turn will help to
restore the sovereignty of Lebanon's democratic government and help ensure
security for the people of Lebanon and Israel."
Saniora, an anti-Syria politician whose government was extremely weak when
the fighting began, appears to have emerged from the crisis considerably
strengthened. He refused to give in to initial cease-fire proposals from the
United States and France that would have left Israeli troops in place until an
international force was installed.
He also prevailed in his insistence that policing of the cease-fire be done
by Lebanese soldiers supported by a U.N. force rather than by an ad hoc assembly
of international troops, possibly from NATO.
The cease-fire, unanimously adopted by the U.N. Security Council on Friday
night, calls for a contingent of as many as 30,000 soldiers — half U.N., half
Lebanese — to enforce the truce.
French President Jacques Chirac said his nation was ready to contribute
troops. Italy and the predominantly Muslim nations of Turkey and Malaysia also
have offered soldiers.
Israeli police said 64 rockets fell on northern Israel, wounding eight
people. That compared with an average 200 missiles daily for the last two weeks.
At least 19 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli air raids Saturday. In
the deadliest strike, Israeli missiles killed at least 15 civilians in the
southern village of Rachaf, Lebanese security officials said.
Israeli warplanes also knocked out a highway in northern Lebanon leading to
the Arida border crossing with Syria, the last official border post open for aid
convoys and civilians fleeing the country. The only routes left were rugged
footpaths and back roads through deserts or over mountains.
Aid convoys were stuck in ports or at warehouses because Israel refused to
guarantee their safety on the roads. Thousands of people trapped in southern
villages were believed to have run out of food and medicine and were drinking
unsafe water.
