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| Israel destroys Lebanon-Syria highway |
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Sunday, July 30, 2006
Hizbollah chief says Rice in Middle East to serve Israel; Tel Aviv rejects UN ceasefire appeal
BEIRUT: An Israeli air strike hit Lebanon’s main road to Damascus on Saturday just 1 km from the border with Syria, cutting the highway in both directions, witnesses and security sources said.
Three air strikes hit the road between Lebanese and Syrian immigration offices, but on the Lebanese side of the border, they said. There was no information on casualties. The Israeli military said it had struck the road to cut arms supply routes from Syria to Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. “The military attacked the road from Lebanon to Syria to prevent the smuggling of weapons,” an army spokeswoman said.
It was the first time that the main crossing between Lebanon and Syria was shut in the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas that began on June 12. The passage has been an escape route for tens of thousands of Lebanese who fled by land to Syria, after Israel bombed the runways at Beirut airport in the first days of fighting. It was also a gateway for humanitarian aid entering the country.
Israel on Saturday rejected a request by the United Nations for a three-day ceasefire in Lebanon to get in supplies and allow civilians to leave the war zone.
Israeli forces pulled out of the Lebanese border town of Bint Jbeil on Saturday but might return and were still operating in surrounding areas, an Israeli military source and a top commander said.
Israeli troops had raided the Hizbollah stronghold, 4 km from the Israel-Lebanon border, earlier in the week as part of a major offensive against the guerrilla group, which has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel in recent weeks. “There are no soldiers in Bint Jbeil, but it’s possible they will be back for pinpointed operations,” the Israeli military source said. Israeli Military Northern Command Chief Udi Adam said the army would continue to operate in southern Lebanon, saying: “We will continue to fight in the area of Bint Jbeil. We hold commanding positions in the areas.” Adam told reporters that troops killed 70 to 80 Hizbollah guerrillas in the territory over the past few days.
Israeli Sergeant Yoad Mor, who was wounded in the clashes in southern Lebanon, said troops found a large cache of weapons and munitions in Bint Jbeil.
Two Indian UN peacekeepers were wounded on Saturday in an Israeli air raid on their post in south Lebanon, a spokesman for the UN force said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Israel on Saturday for talks on ending the war. She has already visited both Israel and Lebanon once in the last week.
“Rice is returning to the region to try to impose her conditions on Lebanon again to serve her new Middle East project and to serve Israel,” Hizbollah’s Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
“The Israelis are ready to halt the aggression because they are afraid of the unknown,” Nasrallah said, adding “The one pushing for the continuation of the aggression is the US administration.”
Nasrallah threatened more rocket attacks on cities in central Israel and claimed Israel suffered a “serious defeat” in ground fighting around a Lebanese border town from which troops pulled back on Saturday after a week of heavy battles.
“The bombardment of Afula and its military base is the beginning ... Many cities in the centre (of Israel) will be targeted in the ‘beyond Haifa’ if the savage aggression continues on our country, people and villages,” Nasrallah said.
Twelve civilians, including a mother and her five children, were killed on Saturday in a new wave of Israeli air raids on Lebanon, police said.
The six members of the al-Kharakeh family were crushed to death under the rubble of their two-storey house which was destroyed in the Israeli raid close to the town of Nabatiyeh in central Lebanon.
The father, Adnan al-Kharakeh, an official with the Lebanese civil defence, was not killed in the raid. It was not clear if he had escaped or was not at home at the time of the strike.
Six civilians were also killed in an Israeli air raid on four houses in the border village of Ain Arab in southeast Lebanon, police said.
UN peacekeepers were heading to the village which has been cut off from the rest of the country by Israeli bombardment of the main road. The village is next to Ghajar, a disputed border village which is partly occupied by Israel.
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20 die as bomber hits Peshawar Judicial Complex
By Javed Aziz Khan
PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the main gate of the Judicial Complex on the Khyber Road here on Thursday, killing 20 people, including three cops, and wounding over 50 others.
Hundreds of more |
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Finally, dreaded NRO list is out and official
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented to the government on Thursday a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats, who were alleged to have plundered hundreds of billions of rupees but were more |
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Gilani to quit if wife proved NRO beneficiary
By Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
& Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: In what could be described as a clear message to the beneficiaries of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to resign from their posts, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilan more |
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Multiple criteria agreed for NFC Award
By Imtiaz Ali
KARACHI: The Fifth National Finance Commission (NFC) meeting in the city on Thursday decided in principle to make population, revenue, backwardness and “inverse density population” (the less the population, the more |
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Karzai sworn in for second term
KABUL: Veteran Afghan leader Hamid Karzai was sworn in as president on Thursday, pledging to fight graft and take control of his country’s security before his five-year term ends, after a fraud-marred election more |
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US asked to take Pakistan into confidence on Afghan policy
KABUL: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the US to take Pakistan on board regarding its new policy on Afghanistan, as it would also have an impact on Pakistan.
He expressed these views while talking t more |
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‘India failed to respond positively on peace talks’
KABUL: Reiterating his strong stance that India is not serious in the process of dialogue with Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Thursday underlined that India had not given Pakistan a positive more |
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Dictators ruled for decades but civilians can’t complete tenure: Shahbaz
KARACHI: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Balochistan CM Nawab Aslam Raisani and Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah have vowed to make Pakistan a welfare state as envisioned by the Quaid-i-Azam.
Talking t more |
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Vehicle escorting CIA director overturns
By Shakeel Anjum
ISLAMABAD: A vehicle of a sensitive security agency escorting US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta, currently on a ‘secret’ visit to Pakistan, overturned near the KRL Chowk at Islamabad Ex more |
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Headley, Rana being probed for involvement in 26/11 attacks
By Sami Abraham
WASHINGTON: Two former students of Cadet College Hasan Abdal, currently living in Chicago, are being investigated for their possible involvement in Mumbai attacks last year in which more than 160 people were ki more |
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PM’s wife not NRO beneficiary: NAB
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau Thursday clarified that Fouzia Gilani, wife of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, was not a beneficiary of the National Reconciliation Ordinance as references agains more |
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Recovered billions can make real difference
By Mehtab Haider
ISLAMABAD: The 160 million people can be provided major relief and even increase in electricity tariff by 30 per cent can be avoided if Rs 165 billion (conservative estimate) are recovered from the beneficiarie more |
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China wants improved Indo-Pak ties
News Desk
BEIJING: The Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday gave the impression that it was merely interested in the gradual improvement in relations between India and Pakistan but was not trying to interfere with the pr more |
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US supports Pakistan-India dialogue
WASHINGTON: A senior American diplomat has said Washington is supportive of resolution of disputes between India and Pakistan through dialogue.
“Of course, we all share an interest in stability and peace more |
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Remarks on women pilots
News Desk
NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) vice chief, Air Marshal P K Barbora, on Thursday offered his apologies if anyone’s feelings have been hurt by his remarks on induction of women fighter pilots, and stressed more |
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Nato must not walk away from Afghanistan, says chief
BUDAPEST: Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday the alliance must not turn its back on Afghanistan as this would raise the threat from al-Qaeda and lead to insecurity throughout central more |
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BoP scam accused sent on 12-day remand
By our correspondent
LAHORE: An accountability court on Thursday sent two main accused of the Rs 9 billion Bank of Punjab scam on 12-day physical remand, directing the NAB officials to produce them again in the court along with oth more |
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briefs...
Eid holidays
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has announced Eid-ul-Azha holidays from November 27 to 30, said an announcement made by the PM Secretariat here on Thursday.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
