Israel Matzav

Threats and counterthreats

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE UPDATED SEVERAL POSTS BELOW THIS ONE. YOU MAY WANT TO GO THROUGH TODAY'S POSTS AND SEARCH FOR THE WORD "UPDATE."

With Katyushas raining down on the north the IDF is threatening to the target the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut, a Hezbullah stronghold, if rocket attacks continued to hit Israeli cities. (YNet has this story as referring specifically to Haifa, the largest city in the north, and Hadera, a town that is halfway between Haifa and Tel Aviv which has an important power plant). Hezbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah lives in Dahiya himself with his family.

Hezbullah released a statement this afternoon that was read on Hezbullah's television station, al-Manar: "The Islamic resistance warns against targeting civilians and the infrastructure. It (resistance) specifically announces that it will quickly shell the city of Haifa and nearby areas if the southern suburbs and the city of Beirut are subjected to any direct Israeli aggression."

Defense Minister Comrade Peretz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today that Hezbullah will not be allowed to return to its former positions in Southern Lebanon. YNet and the Jerusalem Post are both reporting that under a new policy, any armed person coming within one kilometer of the Lebanese border with Israel will be shot.

The Jerusalem Post quotes a 'high ranking source' in the IDF:

A high-ranking IDF source said that the current operation, dubbed Operation Just Reward, would be "long" and could last up to several months, or "as long as it takes to destroy the Hizbullah's ability to launch attacks against Israel."

The IDF source said the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, would be targeted if rocket attacks continued to hit Israeli cities.

The source said that all terrorists in Dahiya, including Hizbullah head Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah himself, were fair targets for the IDF. "We will operate against all the terrorists who operate against us," he said, warning that civilians inside Dahiya could also be hurt in a possible IDF strike. Nasrallah's family lived in the Dahiya neighborhood.

YNet points out:

A special center of the operation is expected to be in the al-Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut, where Nasrallah has established "a state inside a state," and where he also lives with his family.

IDF officials refused to say whether Nasrallah himself is being targeted, and settled for a general statement about "an operation against all terrorists wherever they are." Leaflets distributed in the neighborhood called on the residents to leave the area ahead of a possible strike.

Other updates from YNet:

* The IDF's operation inside Lebanon continued. An al-Jazeera correspondent reported of 50 people killed in strikes, according to Lebanese sources. Many residents have left for the north, leaving behind them ghost cities.

* Among the targets bombed from the air was also a bridge connecting the city of Sidon with the other parts of Lebanon. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that other parts of the Beirut-Damascus road may also be damaged later on.

* IDF soldiers accompanied by members of the Military Rabbinate continued their efforts to locate the body parts of the soldiers who were killed when their tank drove over a bomb in south Lebanon. [Can you imagine any other army in the world doing this? CiJ] The body of one of the troops was located Thursday afternoon.

* Fighting continued also in the Gaza area. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry was bombed Wednesday night. IDF officials said that the condition of Muhammad Deif, the most wanted Palestinian terror suspect, who was injured in an IDF strike Tuesday night, was critical. According to the Palestinians, he was moderately injured.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:29 PM