Israel Arrests Key Hezbollah Guerrilla
Israeli soldiers in Lebanon have arrested a Hezbollah guerrilla involved in the July 12 raid that captured two Israeli soldiers and sparked the devastating round of fighting between Israel and the militant group, the army said Sunday.
The guerrilla was captured in Lebanon, and under interrogation it became apparent that he was involved in that cross border raid more than three weeks ago, the army said. It did not say when the arrest was made.
Earlier Sunday, Hezbollah guerrillas pounded towns across northern Israel with an enormous barrage of rockets, killing 10 people and wounding 14 others in the worst rocket attack on Israel since violence began July 12.
The day of the kidnapping last month, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Hezbollah's abduction of the soldiers "an act of war" and held the Lebanese government responsible, vowing that the Israeli response "will be restrained, but very, very, very painful."
That same day, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would not release the two captured Israeli soldiers except as part of a prisoner swap.
It would be an "illusion" if Israel thinks a military campaign can win the release of the soldiers, Nasrallah said. "No military operation will return them," he told a news conference in Beirut. "The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade."
Olmert said the attack was not an act of terror but an attack by a sovereign state on Israel. The Lebanese government, of which Hezbollah is a part, "must bear full responsibility," he said.
At least 660 people have been reported killed in the violence since fighting began.
In other developments:
All the fatalities from Hezbollah's deadly attacks Sunday were caused by one of the rockets, which landed near the entrance to the communal farm of Kfar Giladi on the border. Channel Two television reported that nine reserve soldiers were among the dead and television footage showed a soldier holding his head in grief.
The attack was "a direct hit on a vehicle where there was a crowd. They were all wounded and scattered in every direction, some of them were in very bad condition," said Eli Peretz of the Magen David Adom rescue service. "It was a very, very difficult scene. I have never seen anything like it."
Of the 14 wounded, four were in serious condition, rescue officials said.
The barrage of at least 80 rockets lasted more than 15 minutes. More rockets were fired as rescue workers tried to treat and evacuate the injured.
The deadly strike was the worst attack in the fighting, surpassing the eight people killed in the city of Haifa on July 16. It brought the number of Israelis killed in the fighting so far to 89, 43 of them killed by rocket attacks and the rest soldiers killed in the fighting.
The attack came hours after the U.S. and France agreed on the framework for a U.N. Security Council resolution that seeks a full halt to the fighting in Lebanon.
The document charts a path toward a lasting peace along the border, with a cease-fire monitored by international troops, but ignores Lebanese demands for a timetable for Israel's withdrawal from the south and for Israel to lift a blockade of the country.
Despite the agreement, Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Sunday that Israel would continue its attacks on Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
Ramon, who is close to Olmert, said the draft resolution was good for Israel, but the country still had military goals to meet in Lebanon.
"Even if it is passed, it is doubtful that Hezbollah will honor the resolution and halt its fire," Ramon told Israel's Army Radio. "Therefore we have to continue fighting, continue hitting anyone we can hit in Hezbollah, and I assume that as long as that goes on, Israel's position, diplomatically and militarily, will improve."
Israel said it's offensive is aimed at weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militia away from the border so an international force and the Lebanese army can take its place.
The draft U.N. resolution emphasized that Israel retained the right to defend itself, and Ramon said that would allow it to take pre-emptive action against guerrillas preparing to attack.
Mohammed Fneish, a Hezbollah member of the Lebanese government, said the guerrillas would not stop fighting until all Israeli soldiers left Lebanon.
Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres said the Iranian-backed Hezbollah was holding the Lebanese government hostage.
"Hezbollah wants Lebanon to be part of Iran's periphery like they are," he told Israel Radio. "It appears that the Lebanese government is screwed up, afraid, and anxious. They didn't start the war, I am sure they would be happy to end it."
Peres added that he felt it would take "weeks, not days" to end the fighting.