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Israel and Lebanon Sort Out Attacks
// The Middle East Conflict
The Israeli army admitted yesterday that the Sunday bombing of the Lebanese city of Qana was conducted in error. Changes will be made in instructions for bombing in the future, it promised. The bombing of Qana led to numerous civilian deaths, although the original death toll of 52 has turned out to be inflated.
On Sunday, the Israeli Air Force fired two missiles on a house that intelligence said was a hideout for Hezbollah militants and arsenal for missiles. Several hours later, it was discovered that the building had been full of refugees. Fifty-two people were reported dead, including many children. Foreign journalists were taken to the site and the international community strongly condemned the Israeli action. Israeli authorities expressed their regret and began an investigation.
A 48-hour moratorium on air strikes against Lebanon was declared. Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz admitted that there had been in error in intelligence, which did not establish the presence of civilians in the building, but he noted that there were Hezbollah militants and weapons present in it as well, according to air surveillance. Since the war began on July 12, about 20 missiles have been fired on Israel from Qana. The Israeli Air Force has received a command to fire on suspicious buildings in settlements where Israel has already asked the residents to leave their homes because intelligence has determined that militants often use civilian dwellings as cover after missile attacks and use them to store weapons.
Lebanese authorities said yesterday that the initial casualty report was erroneous. “We can confirm the deaths of 28 people, including 16 children. Nine more people were injured,” a spokesman for the central hospital in Tyre stated. Casualties from all of southern Lebanon are taken to that hospital. More than 900 people have died in Lebanon since the conflict began. About 3000 more have been wounded, and a third of those wounded have been children under the age of 12. Those statistics were cited by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora in a videotaped message played at an extraordinary meeting of the Islamic Conference in Malaysia. At that meeting, the leaders of 57 Muslim countries demanded an immediate ceasefire and the introduction of international peacekeepers, including those from Muslim countries, in the conflict zone. Diplomatic sources say that Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia are prepared to provide peacekeepers.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Israeli army will not leave southern Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force is in place there. He added in strong words that UNIFIL, the UN contingent there, is not an acceptable force. Its ineffectiveness was seen from the fact that it allowed Hezbollah to occupy southern Lebanon, Olmert said.
The Central Bank of Israel published a report yesterday the cost of the war. The bank said that between 750 million and 1.1 billion shekels ($170-227 million) was being spent weekly on it. The report noted that investors had not lost faith in the Israeli economy yet, but the tourist industry, which accounts for 3 percent of the Israeli GDP, would suffer hard from the war. Losses in Lebanon from the three-week-old war are estimated at $2.5 billion.
Alexander Reutov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 04, 2006
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