Israeli commandos attack militants in hospital

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) confirmed it attacked Hizbullah militants based in a hospital in Baalbek, east Lebanon yesterday. General Dan Halutz, the Israeli Chief-of-staff, said that after a series of aerial bombardments, commandos landed by helicopter and engaged with militants at the Al Hekme Hospital in the north of the city. The hospital was being used as a Hizbullah base and the raid was part of an intensified ground offensive launched in south Lebanon by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) on Tuesday, said Halutz. He claimed that 10 Hizbullah fighters were killed and five captured in the battle, including a senior member who was under treatment at the hospital. Hizbullah has denied this claim and said the captured men were all civilians. Local officials reported that the hospital had been cleared of patients a few days earlier and only guards and Hizbullah personnel had remained. A local policeman told IRIN that during the hospital raid, 11 civilians were killed, although other sources claimed a higher toll, including some children. This is the first time IDF commandos have ventured so deep into Lebanon since recent hostilities began. Baalbek is a renowned Hizbullah stronghold located 100 kilometres north of the Israeli border in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. It is famous for the Roman temples of Jupiter and Bacchus, which have so far not been hit. The city’s 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly Shiite, yet there are significant minorities of Christians and Sunnis. According to a local Hizbullah member, most civilians fled the ancient city following Israeli bombardments in the first week of the military campaign, which started on 12 July in response to Hizbullah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers. PS/AR/ED/MD