Updated: Wednesday, Aug. 9th
- 15 more soldiers killed in S Lebanon 38 wounded, most of them in western sector,9 of them special ops, at least 30 Hizbollah dead
- 4 fagir- 5 long rang missiles land near Jenin, one in Haifa, no damage or casualties, over 170 rockets fired
- Cabinet finally approves expanded ground war to Litani, but Olmert retains power to issue the orders
Tuesday's Headlines
- 5 KIA's and 15 wounded near Bint Jabel, 30 terrorists killed, 5 captured
- Over 150 rockets fired so far, a few injuries reported, heavy damage in Kiryat Shemona and Safed
- Olmert to look into Lebanese army deployment on border!
- Israeli gov't to evacuate 25,000 residents of border towns
- Security cabinet to meet tomorrow and decide whether to expand ground war to Litani
5:30 PM EST: Everyone was waiting for the unfortunate news of KIA's in and around Bint Jabel. The news services are reporting 15 KIA's in today's fighting. It's not clear yet as to how many were wounded and if the previous number of 25 includes those that died. Update: It appears that 9 of the deaths occured when Hizbollah fired missiles at a building in Dabel in which the troops were holed up in. The structure collapsed, killing 9 and wounding 20. All 9 KIA's were special ops. Hizbollah then proceeded to fire into the collapsed structure making it hard to evacuate the casualties and probably caused more casualties. In another battle, Four soldiers were killed after an antitank missile fired by Hizbullah gunmen hit and destroyed an IDF tank in the village of Aita al-Shaab. Also, 2 more soldiers were killed in the eastern sector, one by enemy mortar shells and another in a friendly fire incident. About 38 soldiers were wounded throughout the day, some of them seriously.
Meanwhile, Olmert is waiting two or three days to unleash the invasion. So what is happening is that the 8-10 thousand troops that are currently in Lebanon, are bogged down in urban warfare with no definitive mission. Olmert's leftist policies are clearly causing more casualties. Why are they not flattening these border villages. These casualties are not happening in big "civilian" cities like Tyre, they are happening right along the border where everyone has been evacualted!
2:45 PM EST: Haaretz is reporting that 25 soldiers have been wounded in today's fighting. This all confirms the earlier reports of heavy fighting and is probably a prelude to a confirmation of some KIA's. Also, Nasarallah gave another TV address in which he begged Arab residents of Haifa to evacuate so he wouldn't have to kill his brothers. He also endorsed the idea of the Lebanese army deploying to the border. This begs the question of how some Israeli officials can support an idea that is backed by Hilter in a headscarf?!
12:15 PM EST: JPost is reporting that about 40,000 soldiers are awaiting deployment. In regard to the status of Hizbollah on the ground, a senior IDF officer told JPost that Hizbollah's Nasser Unit, in charge of southern Lebanon, was still operational, and numbered several thousand Hizbollah fighters, including reservists, which the guerrilla group had called up in anticipation of Israel's planned massive ground incursion. Hizbollah, the officer said, still retained its command and control abilities throughout Lebanon and had fighters deployed in between 100-130 villages from the Litani south. North of the river, the officer said, Hizbullah had a smaller presence, but one that still numbered several thousand fighters. There have also been reports of 11 IDF casualties being evacuated to Israeli hospitals after heavy battles in the western sector. It is still unclear how many KIA's and wounded there were in today's fighting.
11:00 AM: Olmert and his cabinet have finally approved an expanded ground war amidst much domestic prssure. Chief of Staff Halutz is predicting the operation to last for 30 days and will involve troops invading southern Lebanon until the Latani river. Lets just hope that it won't be fought in a hesitent PC manner. Keep in mind that in 1982 the IDF made it past the river in 48 hours. The vote was 9-3, but the details are still unclear. I am not happy about some of the rhetoric coming from the liberal cabinet members about not expanding the war immediately.
In other news, the Israeli navy shelled a Fatah Palestinian base in Lebanon that was supplying weapons to Hizbollah. Keep in mind that this is Mahmoud Abbas's terrorist group that Olmert and Rice want to create a state from? Also, here is a good WND article on the living dead in the photos of the liberal media.
8:10 AM EST: Over 100 rockets have struck the north so far. One person was wounded and several suffered from shock in the latest barrage on Safed. Otherwise, there have been few casualties today, but extensive damage in some border towns. There are also widespread fires raging in the Golan Heights and Galilee panhandle. Over 3,000 rockets were fired since the beginning of the war placing almost 2 million residents in bomb shelters for most of the war. No other country would tolerate such a situation. This is proof that Israel's government is the most liberal one in the world. They are fighting a PC liberal war. There are now reports of more casualties in the western sector area of Aita. This usual means that there were some fatalities but the IDF doesn't want to confirm it until later.
Column Update: Michelle Malkin has the latest in regard to the lies of the liberal media in their war reporting. Kathleen Parker also weighs in on this issue. On the other side of the aisle, the Washington Compost is continuing their tradition of having terrorist guest writers. Today, they published an op-ed from the Lebanese PM!
6:20 AM EST: The rocket attacks began early today throughout the north. Most of them landed in open areas resulting in no casualties. However, there was heavy damage in Ma'alot with the destruction of two houses. The big news was that more long rang Fagir-5 missiles were fired today with 4 hitting as far south as the Jenin area and one striking Haifa. No damage was reported. Two people suffered from shock in Haifa. In Lebanon, the IDF is currently engaged in heavy fighting in the western village of Aita where they took casualties last week. One soldier was moderately injured so far and there might have been some fatalities. They seem to continue on this path of being under manned and undersupplied which results in the accomplishing of nothing. Meanwhile, remarkably, the cabinet is still debating whether to expand the ground war with Chief of Staff Halutz finally approving it but several cabinet members along with Olmert wavering.
12:15 AM EST: Newt Gingrich was on with Israel National Radio last night and expressed disappointment in Israel's leadership for not calling up tens of thousands of reserves immediately and invading as far north as possible. If only Olmert would support his country as much as American conservatives do then this war would have been over already. Meanwhile, his cabinet is set to meet in a few hours to decide whether to pressure Olmert to approve a real ground invasion.
In other news, a new poll shows that 97% of Palestinians support Hizbollah's attacks eventhough they are killing Arabs with their rockets. And the libs want to give them a state??!
10:50 PM: It looks like two more IDF soldiers were killed in Bint Jabel, bringing the total number of KIA's to 5 this Tuesday. One was seriously wounded in a firefight, and another was killed during the evacuation of the casualties. The second one later died of his wounds.
8:00 PM EST: Rep. Peter King (R- NY) was on the Mark Levin Show and commented on the war. He asked rhetorically, "doesn't Israel have some B-52's so they can carpet bomb Hizbollah"? Oh, if only Israel had a leader like Peter King!
7:00 PM EST: Due to the continuous rocket attacks throughout the north, the Israeli homefront plans to evacuate at least 25,000 of the remaining residents of the north. This includes about 10,000 residents that have remained in the heavily damaged city of Kiryat Shemona. So what does the Israeli government plan to do about the rocket threat? Tomorrow, the security cabinet plans to meet to decide whether to finally allow the IDF to advance to the Latani river. As we have reported, the Defense Minister who is a Marxist, supports the invasion while the PM is to the left of this Marxist and opposes the operation.
In other news, here is an LA Times poll that shows incontrovertibly that the Republicans support Israel twice as much as the Democrats. In fact, the poll shows that the majority of Democrats feel that we should stop supporting Israel, while a plurality of them think that Israel was unjustified even in their weak response.
2:10 PM EST: There has been heavy fighting throughout the day in Bint Jabel. Seven IDF soldiers were wounded, one moderately when their unit came under anti-tank fire during clashes in Bint Jabail Tuesday evening. Another tank that arrived on the scene was hit by explosives, but there was no word of injuries in that incident. This is in addition to the 3 KIA's and 8 wounded earlier in the morning. In other military news, IDF Chief of staff Halutz appointed his deputy Maj.-Gen Moshe Kaplinsky as personal representative in the IDF's northern command. Some believe that this appointment was in response to some criticism of the current Northern commander Udi Adam by top military officials for being incompetent and inexperienced in fighting against guerrillas. As former OC Central Command, Kaplinsky's forte is the disposition of ground forces. He is a former commander of the Golani infantry brigade.
Inside Israel, the rockets continue to fall at a steady pace causing some more damage but no additional casualties. The brunt of the rocket attacks and damage has been directed at Kiryat Shemona.
9:40 AM EST: 17 people, including 5 children are being treated for shock after a rocket scored a direct hit on a house in Safed. Two people were wounded in a west Galilee village. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Al Reuters has been caught with another false report today. They fabricated a story about Israel bombing a village during a funeral several hours ago, that was later retracted without apology. They really need to be thrown out of Israel if not Lebanon.
8:00 AM EST: The rockets are falling at a heavy pace, but miraculously there were no casualties so far. Several people were treated for shock in Safed. One rocket landed close to a hospital in Safed, causing some damage.
In Gaza, Israel's anti-terror offensive continues, concentrating in the southern Gaza area of Rafah, where the army is searching for and destroying tunnels. Four Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza into the western Negev today; no one was reported hurt. Some 500 Hizbollah and Hamas terrorists have been killed or wounded in the past month of fighting.
6:30 AM EST: On the ground in Lebanon, another soldier, a paramedic, was killed along with 5 seriously wounded when their tank was struck by a missile in the village of Dbil, near Bint Jabel. Another soldier was seriously wounded in Bint Jabel itself several hour ago. This brings the total deaths in Bint Jabel this week to four and for the duration of the war 13. This is all due to their forced withdrawal by Olmert after capturing it two weeks ago. 7 Hizbollah terrorists were killed and 5 were captured when they were caught sleeping in their hideout. Also, 12 more rocket launchers were captured on the ground, while 6 more were destroyed by the IAF. Update: Its now being reported that two more soldiers were killed and 2 wounded in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, in Israel, Olmert has said that the Lebanese proposal to deploy troops along the border is "interesting" and will be studied. Its like saying that the Taliban's proposal to protect you from Al Quieda is interesting and worth further examination.
In northern Israel, about 50 rockets have been fired, causing heavy damage in Ma'alot and Kiryat Shemona, no casualties reported.
Column Update: Here is Caroline Glick's latest article detailing the plans of Olmert and Israel's enemy within. Jack Kelly writes about the liberal media being a mouthpiece for the terrorists. Also, there is a great National Review article that explains the dangers of Condi Rice's push for a suicidal UN resolution and deal with the devil. A little off topic but connected, Dennis Prager has a column about the media's blackout of the Seattle terror attack and their obssesion with Mel Gibson. The London Times has a must read article detailing all of the Chinese weapons that have found their way into the hands of Hizbollah through Iran. We reported earlier that many of the upgraded anti tank missiles that have accounted for most of the IDF casualties are made in China.
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