DATE=2/8/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / LEBANON (L)
NUMBER=2-258945
BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL
DATELINE=JERUSALEM
CONTENT=
VOICE AT:
INTRO: Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon have
killed another Israeli soldier, just hours after
Israeli warplanes launched massive air strikes in
retaliation for earlier guerrilla attacks. As V-O-A
Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem,
Israel is saying it will launch new, more severe, air
raids on Lebanon if the violence continues to
escalate.
TEXT: The soldier was killed when Hezbollah
guerrillas attacked an Israeli army post in south
Lebanon. This latest death raises to six the number
of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon so far this
year.
The attack comes hours after Israeli warplanes carried
out raids on Lebanese power stations and on a
guerrilla base in retaliation for the recent
escalation in violence.
A senior Israeli military official says the army is
planning new, more severe, attacks on Lebanon if
Hezbollah fighters retaliate for the air strikes.
A Hezbollah statement is warning the air strikes will
not protect Israeli troops stationed in south Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak visited people
staying in bomb shelters in communities in northern
Israel.
He accused Hezbollah of violating agreements under
which Israel and Lebanese guerrillas have agreed to
refrain from launching attacks on civilians or from
civilian areas.
/// BARAK ACT ///
Our operation yesterday intended to signal to
the Lebanese government, to the Hezbollah, and
indirectly even to the Syrians that Israel is
not ready to accept unilateral violation of
these agreements. And whatever it will take to
defend our citizens, we will do it as, would do
in the same situation, any free world
government.
/// END ACT ///
The Israeli government coordinator for Lebanon, Uri
Lubrani, says the air strikes were designed to avoid
civilian casualties.
/// LUBRANI ACT - IN HEBREW - UNDER
TRANSLATION ///
The infrastructures are targets where there are
no civilians. The main goal was to avoid, if
possible, to harm civilians. This is the main
goal, to go after infrastructures and not
places with a high concentration of civilians.
We directed the attacks first of all to the
Lebanese government, which supports Hezbollah.
Of course, we cannot, under any circumstances,
absolve Syria from involvement and blame.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// The Egyptian ambassador to Israel,
Mohammad Bassiouny, who frequently plays an important
role in Middle East peace talks, says military force
will not solve regional problems between Israel and
its Arab neighbors.
/// OPT // BASSIOUNY ACT ///
Of course you know we will not accept it. We
always would like to solve all the problems by
peaceful means. Of course, we are against using
any power to solve the problem by force. First
of all, we should make the area calmer. Let us
calm the situation, defuse the tension and
resume the talks. But first of all, we should
defuse the tension and go ahead with the
negotiations because this is the only way to put
an end to the Arab-Israeli dispute.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Thousands of people in northern Israel have been told
to remain in bomb shelters in case guerrillas
retaliate with rocket attacks.
Hezbollah has been fighting a war of attrition against
Israel and the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army since
the mid-1980s.
Hezbollah guerrillas are trained and funded by Iran,
but Israel says Syria serves as a conduit for weapons
shipments to the guerrillas and allows them to move
freely within Lebanon.
Syria maintains 30-thousand soldiers in Lebanon and is
considered the major power-broker in the country.
(Signed)
NEB/MB/JWH/JP
08-Feb-2000 11:39 AM EDT (08-Feb-2000 1639 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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