2006年VOA标准英语-Fighting Rages in Southern Lebanon With No Ceas（在线收听） |
By Sonja Pace Fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants raged in southern Lebanon with the Israeli military saying eight of its troops have been killed and 20 others wounded. The Israeli military says dozens of Hezbollah fighters have been killed. The fighting goes on after world envoys could not agree on calls for an immediate cease-fire in a conference in Rome. --------- For the past several days Israeli troops met fierce resistance in their efforts to take the hilltop town of Bint Jbail, a Hezbollah stronghold four kilometers inside the Lebanese border. "The fighting has been house to house. These heavily fortified Merkava tanks are among the best in the world, but Hezbollah has inflicted losses with anti-tank missiles," he said. "Israel has encountered tougher resistance than expected, so it is sending in reinforcements." Israeli warplanes again pounded targets across southern Lebanon, including a multi-story building in central Tyre. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions. It wants to establish a safe buffer zone of a few kilometers until an international force can take over. Establishing and deploying an international peacekeeping force was on the agenda in Rome where senior U.S., European and Arab officials met to discuss the Lebanon crisis.
"The more we delay the cease-fire, the more we are going to witness more are being killed, more destruction and more aggression against the civilians in Lebanon," he said. In the past two weeks of air strikes, rocket attacks, shelling and ground fighting more than 400 Lebanese have been killed, most of them civilians. More than 700,000 have been displaced. Relief supplies have begun to arrive, but there are still reports of civilians trapped in villages under Israeli bombardment and others trying desperately to flee. The United States has supported Israel's position that an immediate cease-fire would do little good as it would leave an emboldened Hezbollah in place as a continued threat. "We are all agreed that we want most urgently to end the violence on a basis that this time will be sustainable, because unfortunately this is a region that has had too many broken cease-fires, followed by too many spasms of violence, followed then by other spasms of violence," said Ms. Rice. The U.S. position is widely viewed as a green light for Israel to continue its offensive and the senior Israeli commander in the north has said that offensive could continue for several more weeks. Israel and the State Department say Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. More than 40 Israelis have been killed in the fighting, including at least two-dozen soldiers and that toll continues to rise. |
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