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.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station