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The IDF is calling up reserves as the war heats up. I hope our friend BR and his squad mates stay safe.
Army set to call up thousands of reservists; IAF planes pound Lebanon's main road link to Syria
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press
The Israel Defense Forces will be calling up additional reserve battalions, sending thousands more soldiers to fight Hezbollah on the northern border and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, the army said Friday.
The IDF said the call-up would likely come later in the day.
The decision comes on the heels of a significant expansion of the ground operations in the north, as the IDF sent thousands of troops into southern Lebanon on Thursday. Three reserve battalions have already been called up.
The reservists sent to Gaza will free up soldiers in compulsory service to go to the north. The additional soldiers in the north will be deployed to villages in southern Lebanon.
Four IDF soldiers were killed in clashes with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon on Thursday.
On Friday, Israel Air Force warplanes resumed strikes on Lebanon, pounding the country's main road link to Syria with missiles and setting passenger buses on fire, Lebanese police said.
Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee the south "immediately," preparing for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Up in the mountains of central Lebanon on the Beirut-Damascus highway Friday, IAF warplanes fired four missiles on a bridge linking two steep mountain peaks. Part of the bridge collapsed. It has been hit several times since the fighting began.
The passenger buses were in the Bekaa Valley, about 15 kilometers from the Syrian border, on the road linking Beirut and the Syrian capital of Damascus. The strike set three buses on fire at Taanayel, but there were no casualties, police said.
Also Friday, heavy black smoke billowed from targeted areas as IAF planes renewed attacks on the ancient city of Baalbek, a major Hezbollah
stronghold in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The jets fired missiles on residential areas in Baalbek and a large building at the entrance of the city, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah-fired rockets aimed at northern Israel fell short of their targets and struck a United Nations observation post near the border, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries.
On Thursday, four IDF soldiers were killed and five others were wounded, one seriously, in a series of battles just north of Moshav Avivim on the Lebanon border. Three of the soldiers - Benji Hillman, 27, of Ra'anana; Refanel Muskal, 21, of Mazkeret Batya; and Nadav Biloa, 21, of Carmiel - were to be buried Friday afternoon. The IDF said Hezbollah also sustained losses.
The soldiers were part of a force operating not far from the border on Thursday, looking for Hezbollah guerrillas, bases and weapons. They
encountered Hezbollah forces, and a heavy exchange of fire followed. The deaths brought to 19 the number of Israeli troops killed in fighting
against Hezbolloh since the militant group crossed into Israel and captured two soldiers on July 12.
The Israel Air Force bombed more than 40 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon before dawn Friday, Israel Radio reported. The targets included Hezbollah buildings and rocket launchers. Meanwhile, Hezbollah fired more than 30 Katyusha rockets on northern Israel on Thursday - a significant decrease compared to the more than 100 rockets it fired the day before.
Around midnight Thursday, a collision between two IAF Apache helicopters west of Kiryat Shmona killed a pilot and wounded three airmen, one seriously, in the worst operational accident since the start of fighting in Lebanon. The IAF has established an inquiry committee to investigate the collision. The pilot - Ran Yehoshua Kochba, 37, from Beit Hananya - was to be buried at 3 P.M. Friday.
One day after the Israel Air Force carried out a massive strike against a bunker complex thought to be the hiding place of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, he appeared in an interview with Al Jazeera on Thursday evening and promised more surprises in the fighting with Israel.
Nasrallah said that Hezbollah's leadership was unharmed by Israel's air strike against the bunker in the Burj al-Brajneh refugee camp, in south Beirut.
IDF sources confirmed that the interview shows that Nasrallah was not injured, but said the fact that he has surfaced may help in collecting intelligence that will lead to his location.
The hardest clashes Thursday took place at the outskirts of the village of Maroun Ras in the central sector of the border area, just north of Moshav Avivim.
This is the second day of fighting in the same area where two IDF soldiers were killed Wednesday.
At about 5 P.M., a unit from the Golani Brigade ran into a large force of Hezbollah militants. It appears that the initial attack began with mortars launched against the IDF soldiers.
The ambush took place in an area where a few homes are surrounded by agricultural fields. A number of explosions occured, and the soldiers and dozens of Hezbollah militants exchanged heavy fire.
The IDF force required reinforcements to extricate itself from the area, and further heavy exchanges of fire followed, with mortars and Katyusha rockets landing on Avivim and its areas.
The battle raged for hours, and the soldiers managed to hit dozens of Hezbollah fighters who launched anti-tank weapons, both of Soviet and European origin, and used heavy machine guns.
Hezbollah did not admit it suffered any casualties in the fighting. The IDF is still examining whether the initial blow by Hezbollah militants came from a Sagger anti-tank missile.
"It is impossible to evaluate this incident in terms of continuous security operations," a senior officer in Northern Command said Thursday night in an attempt to put things in perspective. "This is war. There are gains, but also less pleasant events."
Two other serious incidents took place earlier in the day.
A soldier from the Paratroop Brigade was seriously injured when a bullet hit his jaw in Kafr Aita al-Sha'ab in the western border zone. He was evacuated under fire, and rushed to Rambam Hospital in Haifa by helicopter. The speedy evacuation helped save his life.
And at about noon, an anti-tank missile slammed into a Merkava Mark 4 Main Battle Tank. One of the soldiers was seriously injured and lost both legs, and another soldier suffered light injuries.
Three Hezbollah militants were killed in the two incidents, and a number of rocket launchers were destroyed.
There was a significant drop in the number of rockets launched against northern Israel, with an estimated 35-40 rockets hitting empty fields in the Galilee.
IDF sources were hard pressed to explain the reason for the drop compared to previous days. One possibility was due to the high concentration of militants involved in ground operations in the area of Maroun Ras. It is also possible that Hezbollah's leadership ordered the slowdown for unknown reasons.
The air force carried out more than 150 sorties throughout Lebanon on Thursday. Six launchers were destroyed and 16 Hezbollah bases as well as three arms storage facilities were bombed. The air assault destroyed 21 Hezbollah vehicles and included attacks on 100 bridges and roads throughout Lebanon.
In the upcoming days, the IDF plans to expand ground operations in southern Lebanon. Next week, more units will be moved to the north, which will enable broader operations against villages throughout the south.
Still, General Staff officers maintain that there is no intention to take and hold ground permanently, and insist that the operations will be clearing raids.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops in Lebanon are searching for tunnels dug by Hezbollah militants. According to the IDF, Hezbollah fighters have taken refuge inside these tunnels - often dug under homes in villages - along with their rockets, and occasionally emerge to fire one on Israel.
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Fender
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
George Bernard Shaw
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