Hizbollah seizes two Israeli soldiers, kills 7

By Alaa Shahine

QASMIYEH, Lebanon (Reuters) – Hizbollah guerrillas captured
two Israeli soldiers and killed at least seven on Wednesday,
drawing a wave of Israeli air strikes deep into Lebanon that
hit 10 bridges and killed two civilians.

Israel described the cross-border attack as an act of war
by Lebanon that would draw a “very painful” response.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said his government
had not known of the Hizbollah attack and did not endorse it or
accept responsibility.

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the soldiers
had been seized to force Israel to release prisoners.

“What we did today … is the only feasible path to free
detainees from Israeli jails,” he told a news conference in
Beirut, proposing indirect negotiations, not confrontation.

He said the operation had been in the works for five
months. Hizbollah has made two previous failed attempts to
catch Israeli soldiers for a prisoner swap in less than a year.

Two Lebanese civilians were killed in an Israeli air raid
on a coastal bridge at Qasmiyeh. Bombs hit nine other bridges
and at least 16 Lebanese were wounded, security sources said.

One bridge, at Damour village some 16 km (10 miles) south
of Beirut, was hit 12 hours after the first shots were fired.
Several suspected Hizbollah posts in south Lebanon also came
under Israeli bombardment from the air and land.

Hizbollah’s bold attack returned it to the frontline of the
Middle East conflict. It inflicted the heaviest losses Israel
has suffered on its northern border since it withdrew from
south Lebanon in 2000, and drew Prime Minister Ehud Olmert into
a second crisis over captured soldiers.

Israel is already engaged in a military offensive in the
Gaza Strip after Palestinian militants captured a soldier on
June 25.

Israel on Wednesday killed at least 23 Palestinians,
including nine members of one family in an air strike that
destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders
were meeting.

The White House condemned the Hizbollah attack and blamed
Syria and Iran, which both back the Lebanese Shi’ite group.

“We call for immediate and unconditional release of the two
soldiers,” said spokesman Frederick Jones.

Hamas political bureau member Mohammad Nazzal told Reuters
the capture of the two Israeli soldiers was a “heroic
operation” and would help a campaign to free 1,000
Palestinians.

Lebanese civilians braced for Israeli bombs, but many
Shi’ites in the south expressed defiance. “Israel will pay the
price for any retaliation,” said Hussein Mohammed, 55.

SWEETS AND FIREWORKS

The sources said the Israeli soldiers had been seized at
around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) across the border from Aita al-Shaab,
some 15 km (nine miles) from the Mediterranean coast.

The Israeli army confirmed that two soldiers were captured
and at least seven killed on the Lebanese frontier.

Hizbollah supporters set off fire crackers and distributed
sweets in the streets of Beirut in celebration.

Israeli troops went into Lebanon to hunt for the missing
soldiers, Israeli Army Radio said. Nasrallah said Hizbollah had
repelled them, adding that one of its fighters was killed.

Footage on Hizbollah’s al-Manar television showed a
smouldering Israeli jeep, with a soldier’s kit lying beside it.
It showed smoke rising from an Israeli border post.

Israeli troops have not struck deep into Lebanon since they
left six years ago after an 18-year struggle with Hizbollah.

“It is an act of war by the state of Lebanon,” Olmert said
of Hizbollah’s action.

In 2004, Hizbollah swapped a kidnapped Israeli businessman
and the bodies of three soldiers for more than 420 Arab
prisoners after German mediation.

Germany said on Wednesday it was contacting Middle Eastern
capitals about Hizbollah’s Israeli prisoners, but declined to
say if it was ready to mediate again.

Olmert called a special cabinet session to discuss further
military action.

Hizbollah, the only Lebanese faction to retain its weapons
after the 1975-90 civil war, is also a political party with 14
members in the Beirut parliament.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan led widespread
international calls for Hizbollah to free the two Israelis.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Damascus “to
use its influence to support a positive outcome.” But Syria
said Israeli actions were to blame for guerrilla attacks.

(Additional reporting by Karamallah Daher in Marjayoun,
Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Dan Williams at Kissufim, and by
Jerusalem, Paris, Rome and Berlin)