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Photo: Niv Calderon
Chief of Staff Halutz
Photo: Niv Calderon
Photo: AP
Soldiers on border
Photo: AP

Army chief: We can operate anywhere

Chief of staff addresses operation of special forces in Baalbek, stresses: 'We didn't go in there to kidnap someone specific'

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Dan Halutz said during a briefing on the operation in Baalbek that Israel "did not go in to kidnap someone specific. The operation took place for a number of hours and it was combined with wide-scale ground and aerial operations."

 

"During last night an operation took place in the heart of Lebanon. We struck over ten Hizbullah members and took five hostage. The purpose of the operation was to make clear that we can operate in the depth of Lebanon," Halutz told journalists.

 

Halutz addressed the military achievements of the operation and reported that "Hizbullah sustained hundreds of dead terrorists, more than a hundred, two hundred, and three hundred. In addition, we struck their medium and long-range rocket system."

 

Expecting more rockets

 

According to the chief of staff, "the IDF operations have been going on for the past three weeks and in the last week we carried out a certain change in the insertion of ground forces in southern Lebanon. This entrance has defined goals – to aid in straightening the new line, to spread forces out in the depth of Lebanon, and of course to try and strike terrorists and Hizbullah facilities."

 

Addressing the calm in the north, Olmert added that "the ceasefire decided upon by Israel ended and as we expected it ended with a rocket barrage this morning, and we assume that this will be the trend."

 

Special IDF forces returned to Israel safely following a night raid on a Hizbullah post in Baalbek, near the Syrian border, 80 kilometers within Lebanese territory.

 

Soldiers of the force struck a number of Hizbullah terrorists and took five terrorists prisoner. In Lebanon some sources said the force searched for the kidnapped soldiers.

 

Efrat Weiss contributed to this report

 


פרסום ראשון: 08.02.06, 13:02
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