Israeli warplanes strike Lebanon communications towers

Israeli warplanes hit TV transmission towers today in Lebanon, knocking the nation’s leading private network off the air and cutting phone links to some regions.

Fighter bombers fired missiles at transmission stations in the central and northern Lebanese mountains, leaving antennas burning on the ground.

Three missiles hit a transmission station at Fatqa in the Keserwan mountains. Another airstrike crippled a transmission tower at Terbol in northern Lebanon, where relay stations for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, Future TV and Hezbollah’s Al-Manar are located.

The three stations could no longer be seen in parts of the country although their satellite feed was unaffected. The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation is the nation’s leading private network.

Hezbollah TV has been targeted previously, during the hostilities that erupted on July 12. It went off the air for less than 10 minutes during the pounding.

The transmission of Radio Free Lebanon, a private station, was also disrupted when airstrikes hit a tower on a mountaintop in Sannine that was also used by the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.

Israeli warplanes targeting a truck hit a Christian suburb of Beirut earlier this week, but today’s attack was the first major airstrike in the Christian heartland.

The 11-day-old Israeli bombardment has hammered mainly Shiite Muslim regions in southern and eastern Lebanon as well as Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces kept up the pressure on southern Lebanese border towns, pounding them with artillery fire, making brief incursions, and according to the Israeli military, taking control of one.

Israel’s incursion into Maroun al-Ras came after it pounded the area with bombs and artillery throughout the night.

Several Israeli soldiers, backed by artillery and tank fire, moved into Maroun al-Ras, Israeli military officials said on condition of anonymity citing the sensitivity of the information, and said it was under Israeli control.

But Lebanese security sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said that the Israeli military had made incursions of only a few hundred yards into Maroun al-Ras and Yaroun villages.

The village is believed to be a launching point for rocket attacks on northern Israel, including those on the Israeli city Nazareth.

In Maroun al-Ras, about 32 residents were taking refuge at the UN observers post. But almost the entire remaining population of the village – which had swelled from 1,500 to 2,300 with summer visitors before the crisis broke out - were believed to have fled, Lebanese security officials said.

An Israeli military radio that broadcasts in the south, Al-Mashriq, warned residents of 13 villages to flee by 4pm (5pm Irish time). The villages form a corridor about four miles wide extending north from the border to a point about two-thirds of the way to the Litani River.

Israeli air raids and artillery shelling also hit the south-east border town of Khiam, Lebanese television and witnesses reported.

UN peace keepers and witnesses said the Israeli incursion briefly held the border village of Marwaheen before pulling back.

One person was killed and five wounded in overnight airstrikes on the southern town of Nabatiyeh, the Voice of Lebanon radio station said. The report could not immediately be confirmed. Nabatiyeh, located some 12km north of the border, was heavily bombed a day earlier.

Lebanese television said that Israeli artillery also shelled zones near the disputed Chebaa farms area.

No report of casualties were immediately available.