12 killed in deadly weekend
In one of most difficult weekends since onset of fighting, Israel loses seven civilians, five IDF soldiers. Simultaneously, thousands of Israelis enter rocket range when long-range rockets land in Hadera, Zichron Yaacov area. On other side, 40 terrorists killed in southern Lebanese villages, more than 170 targets struck from air
Over the weekend, Nasrallah's people managed to fire, for the first time, long-range rockets at the Hadera area, in spite of the IDF's intensive operation in southern Lebanon.
The IDF, on its part, sent special Commando 13 forces to the heart of the city of Tyre, on the Lebanon coast, in a bid to hit rocket launchers.
On Friday, two relatives, residents of Majdel Krum, tried to flee their car when they heard the air raid siren, but were killed by a rocket. Several hours earlier, a young woman was killed in the village of Mghar while trying to protect her two children.
On Saturday morning, a Kiryat Ata resident died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a siren. Several hours later, a heavy rocket barrage landed across the north, claiming the lives of three more victims – a mother and her two daughters sitting in their house yard.
120 rockets within 90 minutes
On Saturday alone, about 170 rockets were fired at northern communities. The peak of the fire was between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., when about 120 rockets were fired across the Galilee.
About 48 people injured in rocket attacks are still hospitalized in the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa; 37 of them are soldiers, 10 are civilians, and one is an Italian soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, who was injured about two weeks ago.
So far, 453 injured were received at Israeli hospitals, 31 of them in serious condition, 32 in moderate condition, and the rest who sustained light wounds or suffered from shock. Eight soldiers were wounded in Commando 13's operation in Tyre are still hospitalized, two of them in serious condition.
Cannons on norhtern border (Photo: Hagai Aharon)
A soldier who was seriously injured after being hit by a mortar shell Saturday was hospitalized at the Nahariya hospital. He underwent surgery a number of times and was transferred to the intensive care unit. His condition continued to be serious but stable.
Another five soldiers who were lightly injured on the northern border also arrived at the hospital.
And not only Hizbullah – the IDF also continued to operate in southern Lebanon. A reserve soldier was killed Saturday afternoon after being hit by an anti-tank missile during an operation at the southern Lebanese village of Aita al-Shaab. Another soldier was seriously injured in the battle and 18 troops were lightly injured, some of them in exchanges of fire that erupted with Hizbullah terrorists in the village.
In total, the soldiers managed to kill 30 Hizbullah terrorists during the battles in the area. The injured soldiers were taken to the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and to the Nahariya hospital for medical treatment.
Over the weekend, the forces operated both on the eastern and western region. On Thursday night, two IDF soldiers and an officer of the Golani brigade were killed during an operation at the village of Markabah in the eastern region, after being hit by an anti-tank missile and light weapon fire.
On Friday night, another soldier was killed after being hit by a mortar shell fired at an armored vehicle driving in the village of Nabi al-Awadi. Thus, the death toll of soldiers killed during the fighting reached 45.
Rocket hits Kiryat Yam (Photo: Eli Lalo)
In the past 24 hours, IDF soldiers spotted armed terrorists in the village of Rajmin in the western region. The force opened fire at the terrorists and identified a hit. In the village of Bint Jbeil, soldiers from the infantry and armored corps uncovered a Katyusha launcher directed at Ma'alot and destroyed it.
In an IDF patrol in the eastern region of southern Lebanon, an IDF force uncovered a mortar shell with a 120-millimeter diameter ready for launching at Israel, along with about 100 mortar shells. In the village of Blida in the eastern region, anti-tank missiles were fired at the soldiers. The force identified the source of the fire and fired back.
Headed to decision on cessation of violence
During the weekend, IDF soldiers killed about 40 terrorists in Lebanon. Since the onset of Operation Change of Direction, the IDF has hit more than 400 terrorists. The IDF struck more than 170 targets from the air in the past 24 hours, including headquarters, operation rooms, Hizbullah weapons caches and a recruitment facility in the Dahiya neighborhood in Beirut.
In addition, 10 rocket launchers, three bridges connecting southern and northern Lebanon, and other buildings were also attacked.
"As long as we do not receive an explicit instruction from the political echelon, we are not changing our alignment and are continuing with the operation as usual," a senior IDF source told Ynet.
The IDF continued to call up reservists over the weekend and is also preparing for a possibility of accelerating the operation, ahead of diplomatic moves that will deal the fighting period.
"If there is a diplomatic decision to expand the operation, we will expand it," the source said. According to him, the reservists being called up are meant to replace reservists who have already been called up in order to prepare for any other possibility.
On the diplomatic arena, the United States and France succeeded in resolving the differences which have so far prevented a decision at the UN security Council regarding a ceasefire. A draft resolution formed by the two countries includes a clause casting the responsibility for opening the present war on Hizbullah, while mentioning the incident in which eight IDF soldiers were killed and two were kidnapped when terrorists infiltrated Israel.
The draft called for an immediate and urgent release of the two soldiers, Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, and calls to examine in the future the release of Lebanese prisoners jailed in Israel. Another clause discusses a demilitarization of the area between the blue line and the Litani – the area where only Lebanese soldiers and multinational forces would be allowed to stay.
Hagai Einav, Efrat Weiss, Ahiya Raved, Miri Chason, Raanan Ben-Zur and Ilan Marciano contributed to the report
