50 Lebanese Killed: Israel’s Toxic Blitz before Truce
‘Pakistan Times’ ME Special Desk

BEIRUT (Lebanon): A UN-brokered ceasefire to end the month-old conflict in Lebanon—came into force on Monday—but intense fighting continued right up to the deadline for the guns to fall silent.

Israel launched an 11th-hour wave of air strikes on Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters unleashed a barrage of rockets just hours before the agreed "cessation of hostilities" took effect at 0500 GMT.

Israeli forces shelled areas around Tyre and Khiam in the war-battered south of the country, while combat jets flew over Beirut, dropping warning leaflets, and bombarded the ancient eastern city of Baalbek.

The timing for the cessation of hostilities was announced by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday following the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution which calls for the deployment of an international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.

"The application of the resolution will depend on the will of the Lebanese government, but especially on the determination of the international community," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.

The bloodshed went on as the clock ticked towards the agreed hour to end the fighting, although some of the tens of thousands of families displaced by Israeli bombardments were making tentative plans to return home.

In one of the deadliest raids, at least 15 people were killed, including three children, by Israeli air strikes that hit eight buildings and a mosque in Beirut's southern suburbs, emergency services said.

At least eight people were also killed near Baalbek in eastern Lebanon, police said.

Israeli defence Dan Halutz in a warning to Lebanon said the ceasefire comes into force from today, saying: "If Hezbollah fired rockets they would be responded appropriately."

Fighting before Ceasefire

Israel launched an 11th-hour wave of air strikes against Hezbollah as the Shiite fighters unleashed a barrage of rockets just hours before a UN-brokered end to the hostilities was due to take effect.

At least 50 Lebanese, including four soldiers, were killed by Israeli fire as warplanes kept up their deadly bombing, while five Israeli soldiers were also killed in action.

In one of the deadliest raids, at least 15 people were killed, including three children, and 20 wounded by Israeli air strikes that hit eight buildings and a mosque in Beirut's southern suburbs, emergency services said.

At least eleven people were killed in Israeli air raids late Sunday near the ancient city of Baalbeck in eastern Lebanon, police said.

While ten people were killed and 33 wounded on Sunday night by Israeli air strikes that hit eight buildings and the Imam Hassan (AS) mosque in Beirut's southern suburbs, rescue workers said.

Rescuers continued to search under the rubble of a block of eight buildings and the Imam Hassan (AS) mosque, which collapsed in the Rweiss neighborhood in the Shiite-dominated suburbs.

Meanwhile, fifteen civilians were killed in Tyre, where Israeli warplanes bombed five petrol stations, sparking a huge fire that threatened to engulf a nearby hospital.

Israeli ground forces also opened fire at Palestinian immigrants camp in Sedon and killed two in raids, while buildings and roads in major Lebanese cities were also bombed heavily.

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres sought to put a positive spin on the war's outcome despite the failure to stem Hezbollah rocket fire.

"I think that we have finished more or less the victors both militarily and politically," he told army radio, predicting that Hezbollah would end with "its tail between its legs."

Israeli Defence Minister Dan Halutz issued a stark warning to Lebanon even if the ceasefire comes into force, saying: "If a single stone is thrown at Israel from whatever village by any Hezbollah member, it should be turned into a pile of stones."

Six Hezbollah fighters Killed

Meanwhile, six Hezbollah fighters were killed in south Lebanon when one opened fire on Israeli troops and another approached them with weapons after the ceasefire took effect on Monday, the army said.

Israel launched the massive offensive against Hezbollah after the Shiite militia carried out cross-border raids on July 12 that left eight soldiers dead and two captured.

More than 1,150 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, have been killed, while 160 Israelis, three quarters of them soldiers, also died.●