AP: Hezbollah Says It Foiled Israeli Raid

Hezbollah Says It Foiled Israeli Raid

By SAM F. GHATTAS | August 19, 2006

Hezbollah said its guerrillas foiled an Israeli commando raid early Saturday west of their stronghold of Baalbek deep inside Lebanon.

Lebanese security officials could not confirm a report on Hezbollah TV that Israel launched airstrikes and commandos had been dropped off at a field west of Baalbek.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release information to reporters, reported heavy Israeli overflights. Overflights were reported Friday night in the same area.

An Israeli army spokesman said officials were looking into the report.

If the report proves to be true, it would mark the first time Israel launched a military operation on such a scale since the cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect Monday. Since Monday, Israeli troops killed several guerrillas who threatened their troops in south Lebanon, and warplanes have flown over the country.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV said the Israeli commando force landed before dawn and was driving into Boudai when it was intercepted by guerrillas who forced it to retreat under the cover of warplanes, which staged mock raids.

Israel said Saturday its warplanes have not attacked Lebanon since an Aug. 14 cease-fire halted 34-days of fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces.

Baalbek is the birthplace of the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah. The area in the eastern Bekaa Valley, 60 miles north of the Israeli border, is a major guerrilla stronghold.

The U.N. Security Council cease-fire resolution calls for an immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations.

In letters to Lebanese and Israeli leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned the two countries against occupying additional territory and told them to refrain from responding to any attacks "except where clearly required in immediate self-defense."

Annan also told Israel and Lebanon that once the cessation of hostilities took effect there must be no firing from the ground, sea or air into the other side's territory or at its forces.

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