Israel kills 34 civilians in strikes

By Laila Bassam July 15th, 2006

BEIRUT (Reuters) -



Israel killed at least 34 civilians on Saturday, including 15 children, in air strikes meant to punish Lebanon for letting Hizbollah guerrillas menace the Jewish state's northern border.

Israel's bombing of Lebanese roads, bridges, ports and airports, as well as Hizbollah targets, is its most destructive onslaught since a 1982 invasion to expel Palestinian forces. For the first time, ports in Christian areas were bombarded and a helicopter missile hit a lighthouse on Beirut's seafront. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora demanded an immediate U.N.-backed ceasefire, denouncing Israel for turning his country into a "disaster zone." He appealed for foreign aid.

An Israeli missile incinerated a van in southern Lebanon, killing 20 people, among them 15 children, in the deadliest single attack of the campaign launched by Israel after Hizbollah captured two of its soldiers and killed eight on Wednesday. Police said the van was carrying two families fleeing the village of Marwaheen after Israeli loudspeaker warnings to leave their homes. Many of the bodies were charred and broken.

Other raids on north, east and south Lebanon killed 14 people and wounded 37, security sources said.

At least 103 people, all but four of them civilians, have been killed in Israel's four-day-old assault, which has choked Lebanon's economy and prompted tourists and foreigners to flee.

Civilians killed by the Israeli airstrike are lined up roadside by U.N. peacekeepers, who collected the bodies.

An innocent civilian "accidently" blown away while following the orders of the invading Israeli army

Roasting alive fleeing civilians will really teach those "terrorists" a lesson they will not soon forget.

An innocent man, burned alive and blasted to bits.

A man? Perhaps a woman? Maybe a child? Who can tell. Shredded by "democratic" missiles - it's all for a good cause, right?