Israeli Bombing Assault Batters Beirut

Copyright © 2006 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MICHELE NORRIS, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

And I'm Melissa Block. Along the border between Israel and Lebanon, there was a third day of air strikes and heavy shelling. There's no sign that either side will let up. On Wednesday, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel launched a campaign to secure their release. That campaign has widened. Israel has imposed a land, sea, and air blockade around Lebanon. The airport is unusable. The Israeli military has sealed off Lebanese ports with gun ships, and has bombed the main highway leading from Beirut to neighboring Syria. In southern Beirut, the home and office of Hezbollah's leader were destroyed. Hassan Nasrallah said his group is ready for, in his words, an open war with Israel. At nearly the same time, the Israeli military confirmed that one of their naval gun ships, off the Lebanese coast, was attacked by an unmanned Hezbollah aircraft drone, rigged with explosives. The extent of the damage is unclear. The ship has been sent back to Israel. We'll hear from Israel in just a moment. First NPR's Ivan Watson reports from Beirut.

IVAN WATSON reporting:

After a night of punishing Israeli air strikes, Lebanese families began moving out of neighborhoods of southern Beirut today. Israel has focused its attacks on this predominantly Muslim district, which is a traditional stronghold for Hezbollah. Wealthier locals checked into the city's high-priced resorts, which were recently emptied by a tourist exodus from the country.

(Soundbite of crowd noise)

WATSON: Hundreds of poorer Lebanese families took shelter in the classrooms of schools like this one, where they were given foam mattresses and some food.

Ms. LATIFA(ph) OMAR(ph) (Resident, Beirut): Begin morning, I come into here.

WATSON: Thirty-one-year-old Latifa Omar came here this morning with more than 20 relatives, after the Israeli bombardment led to a terrifying, sleepless night for her and her three children. But even here, they are not safe from Israeli attacks.

Ms. OMAR: Family name? Family name? Omar.

(Soundbite of crowd noise, woman yelling in foreign language)

WATSON: The nearby air strike triggered panic in the school. Moments later, a second explosion prompted a woman to faint as children began to wail.

(Soundbite of explosion)

(Soundbite of crowd noise)

WATSON: Meanwhile, in Beirut's southern suburbs today, road crews worked to clear the rubble after a series of air strikes last night collapsed two bridges and left huge craters in several busy intersections.

(Soundbite of traffic)

WATSON: Lebanese soldiers stood alongside bearded, plain-clothed members of Hezbollah here, securing a perimeter around the craters. Later a truck, outfitted with loudspeakers, showed up with a Hezbollah member on board, who promised victory over Israel.

(Soundbite of man yelling in foreign language)

WATSON: As usual, civilians appear to be bearing the brunt of the rapidly escalating war between Hezbollah and Israel. An Israeli air strike last night, in south Beirut, blew out many of the windows of the Sahil General Hospital. Ravi(ph) Awada(ph) is a nurse here.

Mr. RAVI AWADA (Nurse, Sahil General Hospital): It was terrible. It was unnecessary terrible bombings today. Absolutely unnecessary, because the bridge was 10 meters or a couple of meters away from hospital. It's a civilian hospital. We're not a military base, here.

WATSON: Doctors at this hospital have treated more than 20 civilian victims of last night's bombing raid, including Iam(ph) Hazumi(ph), whose back and legs were broken when her car was hit by one of the explosions.

Unidentified woman: (speaking foreign language)

WATSON: The next room over, Ibrahim(ph) Ayed(ph), bled on his pillow, from shrapnel wounds he received to the face, last night. The 31-year-old hairdresser says, as part of the campaign to free two captured Israeli soldiers, Israel is killing and injuring innocent people who do not support Hezbollah.

Mr. IRBAHIM AYED (Resident, Beirut): (Through Translator) Because of just two people, you know? How many have been killed? A hundred have been killed and 200 have been injured.

WATSON: This evening, Beirut's normally boisterous streets were empty, shops and restaurants closed, as residents braced themselves for another night of bombing. The air strikes have deprived much of the city of electricity. Pink tracer bullets periodically blossomed up from southern Beirut, as Lebanese antiaircraft fire targeted dissident Israeli warplanes. Ivan Watson, NPR News, Beirut.

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