Hezbollah guerrillas pounded towns across northern Israel with an enormous barrage of rockets yesterday afternoon, killing 10 people and wounding 14 others in the worst rocket attack on Israel since violence began on July 12.
All the fatalities were caused by one of the rockets, which landed near the entrance to the communal farm of Kfar Giladi on the border. Channel Two television reported that nine reserve soldiers were among the dead and television footage showed a soldier holding his head in grief.
The attack was "a direct hit on a vehicle where there was a crowd. They were all wounded and scattered in every direction, some of them were in very bad condition," said Eli Peretz of the Magen David Adom rescue service. "It was a very, very difficult scene. I have never seen anything like it."
The deadly attack in northern Israel came hours after the US and France agreed on the framework for a UN Security Council resolution that seeks a full halt to the fighting in Lebanon.
Lebanon rejected the draft Security Council resolution because it would allow Israeli forces to remain on Lebanese soil, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said yesterday.
Slamming the French-US draft as biased, Berri said it ignored a seven-point plan presented by Lebanon that calls for an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the return of all displaced civilians among other things.
"Lebanon, and all of Lebanon, rejects any resolution that is outside these seven points," said Berri, who has been negotiating on behalf of Hezbollah guerrillas.
"Their resolution will either drop Lebanon into internal strife or will be impossible to implement," he told a news conference.
The draft resolution, which the Security Council is expected to vote on either today or tomorrow, calls for a "full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon said, who is close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said yesterday that the draft resolution was good for Israel, but that it still had military goals to meet in Lebanon.
"Even if it is passed, it is doubtful that Hezbollah will honor the resolution and halt its fire," Ramon told Israel's Army Radio. "Therefore we have to continue fighting, continue hitting anyone we can hit in Hezbollah, and I assume that as long as that goes on, Israel's position, diplomatically and militarily, will improve," Ramon said.
The Israeli army announced yesterday that it had arrested one of the Hezbollah guerrillas involved in the initial raid during which two Israeli soldiers were captured.
At least 660 people have been reported killed in the violence so far. Hezbollah has said that 50 of its fighters were killed, but Israeli security officials told the Cabinet yesterday they had confirmed the deaths of 165 Hezbollah fighters -- and even had their names -- and estimated that another 200 had been killed, according to a participant in the meeting.
At the site of the Hezbollah missile attack in Kfar Giladi, convoys of police, military and rescue vehicles raced through the kibbutz.
Of the 14 wounded, four were in serious condition, rescue officials said.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a