Israel Attacks Beirut Airport and Sets Up Naval Blockade
Israel imposed a full naval blockade on Lebanon on Thursday and put Beirut International Airport out of commission, and the militant group Hezbollah unleashed a hail of rockets and mortar shells that killed two and sent thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters.
A day after cross-border raids by Hezbollah fighters brought Israeli troops into Lebanon in force for the first time in six years, Israel sent punishing airstrikes deeper into the country, hitting all three runways at the Beirut airport, two Lebanese Army bases, Hezbollah Al Manar television station and, early on Friday, the main highway between Beirut and Damascus, Syria. It felt, many said, like the civil war that ended 15 years ago was back.
Israel said that the Lebanese government is responsible for the actions of Hezbollah, which is a member of the governing coalition, and that the cross-border raid that captured two of its soldiers on Wednesday was an unprovoked act of war by a neighboring state.
Senior Israeli officials said that the military had been freed up to cut off Lebanon, permanently drive Hezbollah forces back from the border, and punish the government for not upholding a United Nations directive to disarm and control the group.
Israel's military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, warned that 'nothing is safe' in Lebanon and that Beirut itself, especially Hezbollah offices and strongholds in southern Beirut, would be a target.
Thousands of Israelis in the north spent the night in bomb shelters as Hezbollah warned that Israeli attacks on southern Beirut would be met by rocket attacks on Haifa, a port city of 250,000 people 18 miles from the international border. Thursday evening, two rockets landed near the city's Stella Maris Church.
The rapid surge in fighting on a second front, two weeks after Israel entered Gaza to try to secure the release of another captured soldier, alarmed Arab and Western governments and drove up the price of oil.
President Bush, in remarks in Germany, said that 'Israel has the right to defend herself,' but he also called for care, warning Israel not to weaken the government in Lebanon.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, warned that Israel's Lebanon offensive 'is raising our fears of a new regional war' and urged world powers to intervene.
The Israelis say that they want the message to get across to Syria and Iran, the countries widely considered to be the main sponsors of Hezbollah and Palestinian militancy.
Mr. Peretz said Israel would no longer allow Hezbollah forces to occupy positions along the border. 'If the government of Lebanon fails to deploy its forces, as is expected of a sovereign government, we shall not allow Hezbollah forces to remain any further on the borders of the state of Israel,' he said. Few Israeli officials expect that the Lebanese government, which is greatly influenced by Syria, has the will or the power to displace Hezbollah in the south.
Israel called on the international community to press Lebanon to fulfill its commitments under United Nations resolutions to dismantle Hezbollah's military and send the Lebanese army into southern Lebanon to take control over the international border with Israel.
The Israeli attack on the Beirut airport - the first such attack by Israel since 1982 - blasted craters into all three runways, but did not hit the main terminal. Israeli planes later attacked the fuel stores at the airport, setting at least one tank on fire and filling the night sky with flames.
The attack came at the height of the tourist season, and travelers were stranded all over the Middle East. Even the Lebanese foreign minister, Fawzi Salloukh, had to return home overland from Syria from a trip to Armenia. Syria opened its borders to stranded tourists, many of whom rushed to the crossings before Israeli airstrikes cut off the main highway.
By midday Thursday, Beirut grew more panicked as Israeli warplanes dropped leaflets over the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, warning residents to evacuate the area before impending attack. Many families packed their bags and left to countryside where they chances of being hurt would be lower.
Hoards of tourists, most of them from Arab countries, packed up their bags and milled about in hotel lobbies desperate for a way out. But with the country blockaded by sea and air, the sole exit was through the land border with Syria, which by midday was backed up for miles.
Hassan M. Fattah reported from Beirut for this article, and Steven Erlanger from Jerusalem.
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