Israel intensified its attacks against Lebanon on Thursday, blasting Beirut's international airport and the southern part of the country in its heaviest air campaign against its neighbor in 24 years. According to Al-Jazeera TV station, 52 Lebanese civilians were killed in the attacks.

The strikes on the airport, which damaged three runways, came hours before Israel said it was imposing an air and naval blockade on Lebanon.

The strikes come in response to the Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers Wednesday morning in a cross border attack. Eight Israeli occupation soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in the 'Truthful Promise' operation which Hizbullah wants to swap the two soldiers for Arabs held in Israeli prisons. Two Hizbullah militants were killed in the attack.

Israel holds approximately 10,000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners including 2,000 Lebanese.

It is refusing to exchange prisoners and responded by launching an aggressive military attack on Lebanon targeting civilians and infrastructure.

Israel's chief of staff on Thursday warned Hizbuallah that the Lebanese capital Beirut is "not immune" from attacks. Hizbullah responded by warning that it could fire Katyusha rockets as far as the port of Haifa in north Israel.

Beirut airport, located in the Hizbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, was closed after the attacks and flights were diverted to nearby Cyprus. It was the first time since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and occupation of Beirut that the airport was hit by Israel.

Israel also fired a missile at the building housing the studios Hizbollah's Al-Manar TV in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday morning. One person was hurt, but the station continued to broadcast.

Overnight Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon, meanwhile, killed 52 civilians and wounded dozens more. A family of 10 and another family of seven were killed in their homes in the village of Dweir near Nabatiyeh, the officials said.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/803/fr3.htm