kipper

Stay safe, both of you, and anyone in that area! Thanks for the first person reports.

Dovster

I awoke this morning to the sounds of rockets and mortars landing in my vicinity. They were not, however, as close as yesterday -- I think they were about 5 to 10 kilometers away.

In addition to the sounds of incoming fire, there was also quite a bit of outgoing.

GUWonder, there is now an official reason to put this in the Travel Safety/Security thread -- according to the Jerusalem Post the Israeli Air Force bombed Beirut International Airport early this morning.

There were, happily, no reports of injuries there but the airport was closed and two flights were diverted to Cyprus.

This was the kind of attack on infrastructure that I predicted in Post # 35, in which I said, "The probability is that Israel will do something in between. It will most likely concentrate on the South, and keep any ground troops in that area, but may well go after Lebanese infrastructure (such as electrical plants) in other parts of the country. This could easily result in widespread problems in Lebanon."

Officially, all of us are still in underground shelters. In reality, I believe it is mostly the children. They can not be kept there 24 hours a day and other kibbutzes, just out of rocket range, have offered to host them. The younger ones will be bussed to a kibbutz about 50 kilometers to the south to spend the day at its pool and will return home in the late afternoon.

BEYFlyer, if you are still following this thread can you tell us how things are affecting you personally? (Very obviously, I hope your answer is "not at all".)

Dovster

A quick update: According to Israeli television, there were some 80 rockets fired into Israel this morning. This includes an attack on Nahariya, a city of some 40,000 people about 15 kilometers south of Lebanon.

It was also reported that the attack on the Beirut International Airport damaged all three of its runways and has closed it for an indefinite period.

(There were no reports of the terminals or any buildings being attacked or of any injuries.)

The Hizbollah rocket fire is continuing right now and seems to be closer to me but still one or two kilometers away.

Markie

The BBC are reporting that Isreal have bombed the International Airport in Beiruit causing flights to be diverted. They report that the airport is now closed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/5175160.stm

Israeli aircraft have fired rockets at the runways of Beirut's international airport, forcing its closure and the diversion of flights.
The attack comes as 27 civilians were killed in overnight Israeli raids on southern Lebanon.

Militant group Hezbollah says it has fired rockets into northern Israel. One person has been reported killed.

The violence follows the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel has said it holds Lebanon responsible.

The Beirut airport is Lebanon's only international airport.

BEYFlyer

Woke up this morning to the sounds of rockets exploding on the airport runway. I don't live far from the airport and the runways are clearly visible from my bedroom window up on the 11th floor. IMHO, the attacks (3 seperate raids by air) were not justified and the reason given by the IDF is weak. Personally, the Israeli government just wanted to slap us around a few times and they succeeded in doing that. In fact it was a knock out punch. Roads south of the airport are severly damaged and bridges linking Beirut to the South are out. Traffic is non-existant in the city and I think the electricity and water stations will be next.

Dovster

I agree with BEYFlyer that the official reason (that the airport is used to bring weapons to Hizbollah) was not the real reason for the attack. It is my understanding that much more weaponry is brought by road from Syria.

I also agree that electrical and water infrastructures are very likely targets.

IMHO, the thinking behind this policy goes as follows:

1. Israel withdrew from Lebanon without reaching any agreement with Hizbollah or the Lebanese government. It now sees the Lebanese border being used to attack Israel.

2. Israel withdrew from Gaza without reaching any agreement with the Palestinians. It now sees repeated rocket attacks from Gaza.

3. The current Israeli government has as the main point in its platform a withdrawal from most of the West Bank -- and has sworn to do this even if it can not reach an agreement with the Palestinians. It is determined to demonstrate, both to the Palestinians and to the Israeli electorate, that it will not allow this withdrawal to serve as the means for rocket attacks on the center of Israel (the most heavily populated part of the country).

(Keep in mind that after this withdrawal, Israel will be only 12 miles wide at its narrowest point.)

While I have no problem with the withdrawals, I do think -- and have said repeatedly -- that making them without first reaching an agreement is an invitation to war, not peace.

BEYFlyer, again, I very much hope that this ends as quickly as possible and that you, your friends, and your family escape from it both unharmed and with as little disruption to your lives as possible.

Sadly, I am not at all optimistic about it ending very quickly.

Jimmy67

I personally feel desperately sorry for what happened, and I cannot understand Israel even destroys important things for lebanons tourism industry.

maybe Israel really wants to escalate all the things, for sure Hisbollah will be more popular then ever after these things.

BEYflyer, you have any idea how long it will take until the airport is open again?

a friend of mine wants to come tomorrow to germany.
And i want to come in september ???

entropy

I agree, why bring weapons by air when they can easily do it over a much larger border with Syria.

The attack of the runways (and not the passenger terminals) will take a heavy toll on the economy and quality of life, but did not kill civilians.

Of course, if the government wanted to stop the attack immediately, they could cut of Nasrallah's head and put it on a pike, and get the soldiers back, and disarm the hizbullah which caused this whole mess.

Then again, it may have been Iran's intention to severely damage the Lebanese government via Hizbullah. In either even, disarming the hizbullah would remove the threat from Iran AND get Israel out of there. I suspect if they were to do such a thing, the US and Israel would be happy to pay for some of the reconstruction.

BEYFlyer

Jimmy67, I honestly do not know when the airport will be operational again, but I can certainly tell you that tomorrow is stretching it. My brother is in London right now and will be stuck there for a while.

Ba'alback up North has just been hit too. Granted, there is a huge Shiite population there that supports Hizbollah but this is getting a bit out of hand and will most likely get a lot worse before it gets any better .

entropy

the word on the street is that the IDF wants the area free of civilian air traffic so they don't have to worry about passenger airliners for whatever operations may commence.

pit the runways => airport closed => no air traffic, and no civilian casualties.

BEYFlyer

Israeli warships have just entered Lebanese waters to form a blockade from the sea... I guess any chanses of this ending anytime soon are out of the question now...

se94583

I agree. Then, whatever comes, they can legitimately say that anything they splash is a military threat.

BEYFlyer

It's good that they are avoiding those flying out (most of whom are foreign travellers) but what about the 30 civilians killed in the past 24 hours? Shame they weren't at the airport to avoid being killed...

GUWonder

There goes a lot of summer plans for a lot of people in the area.

On one-side: a government acting out of desperation, a government desperate to show to its own people and the world that it's not weak and doesn't give much of a hoot about the consequences of military adventurism that it perceives as an attempt to secure its own people.

On the other-side: a country which doesn't have anything close to absolute control on elements that are causing problem from within and without their territory. [And actually, Iran and even Syria don't have as much control over what's going on as they used to. Nor does N.B., but don't be surprised to see attacks going in those directions too. ]

How extensive was the bombing of the runways at the airport?

apirchik

I don't justify any of these acts, but the assumption that leads the Israel to act like this is that Lebanon allows Hizbollah to act and closes one or two eye(s) when it comes to Southern Lebanon. The motive is to cause the people of Beirut to ask why they have to pay for something they are not responsible for and have them act to stop Hizbollah.

Will it work? - most probably not. I agree that it will give Hizbollah much more power.