Israel Bears Down On Two Fronts
Hezbollah TV Hit In Lebanon; Foreign Ministry Bombed In Gaza
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Play CBS Video Video Mideast Crisis Escalates After Hezbollah terrorists captured two more Israeli soldiers, Israel responded by sending planes and tanks seven miles into Lebanon, killing at least eight. Lara Logan reports.
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Video Analysis Of Mideast Crisis CBS News "60 Minutes" correspondent Bob Simon has been covering this story for more than two decades. He adds perspective from Tel Aviv.
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Video Is It War For Israel? Professor Robert Lieber from Georgetown University discusses Israel's bombing of Gaza and their fight to retrive two abducted Israeli soldiers from Lebanon.
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A crater is seen next to planes on a runway after Israeli warplanes targeted the Rafik Hariri International Airport, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, July 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
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Israel's attack on the Beirut airport is the first such assault in 24 years. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
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An armed Palestinian man stands beneath the Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City after an Israeli airstrike early morning Thursday, July 13, 2006. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
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In a Beirut suburb, a Lebanese woman, brandishing guns, celebrates the capture of two Israeli soldiers, July 12, 2006. (Getty Images/Anwar Amro)
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Israeli artillery fires into Lebanon, July 12, 2006. (AP Photo/Haim Azulay)
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Interactive Mideast Conflict Events, key players and a history of the world's most unstable region.
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Photo Essay Lebanon Border Clash Hezbollah guerillas capture two Israeli soldiers in cross-border raid, triggering Israeli retaliation.
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Photo Essay Gaza Strikes Israeli tanks and troops, backed by air strikes, move into Gaza in a new phase of an offensive aimed at confronting militants.
The U.S. is supporting Israel in its push, calling it a reaction to terrorism; Russia has condemned Israel's actions, but is also calling for the release of the captured soldiers.
In the midst of the violence, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has arrived in the West Bank city of Ramallah, for talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Koizumi, who on Wednesday met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem, is pushing for restraint between the Palestinians and Israelis.
In Gaza, the airstrike on the Foreign Ministry badly damaged the building and nearby homes and vehicles, and injured 13 people who lived in the neighborhood.
The Israeli military confirmed it had carried out an airstrike on the ministry, noting that it is "led by Hamas." Israel's offensive is aimed primarily at Hamas, which claimed responsibility for the capture of a soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.
Israel has rejected demands that it release hundreds of prisoners in exchange for the soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, 19.
Israeli officials on Thursday accused Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of having known in advance of the militants' plot to attack an Israeli outpost and seize soldiers.
Zahar "is part of a leadership that is involved in a very tangible way in terrorism and in violence," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. "He had knowledge of the recent hostage taking, and he is part of a leadership that has orchestrated ... countless missile attacks against Israeli urban areas."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Taher al-Nunu accused Israel of carrying out "organized terrorism that targets all the Palestinian people and aims to exterminate all government institutions, one after another, to prevent them from carrying out their duties." He said no one was in the building when the plane struck after 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
In other recent developments:
In Lebanon, Israel's military campaign is the heaviest in 24 years.
The Israeli attacks in south Lebanon alone killed 35 civilians and wounded 52 more, Lebanese security officials said. A family of 10 and another family of seven were killed in their homes in the village of Dweir near Nabatiyeh, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said his forces would not allow Hezbollah guerrillas to occupy positions along the southern Lebanese border.
"If the government of Lebanon fails to deploy its forces, as is expected of a sovereign government, we shall not allow Hezbollah forces to remain any further on the borders of the state of Israel," Peretz said.
Lebanon has long refused to deploy more than a limited number of security forces in the border region, saying it is not in business of protecting Israel's northern border.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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