July 2006 in The Middle East - 25 July 2006 (Tuesday)

25 July 2006 (Tuesday)

• 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict:
  • Israeli army radio reports that Israeli Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has ordered the air force to destroy 10 multi-story buildings in the Dahaya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa. As of Sunday the ratio of reported deaths was more than 17:1. (News24)
  • Four UN peace keepers die after, being, according to the United Nations, shelled 14 times by Israeli artillery, and a rescue team was also shelled as it tried to clear the rubble. "I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by IDF of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement from Rome. Israeli ambassadors expressed regret but called the assertion that the attacks were deliberate "baseless". The IDF will investigate the incident. (BBC News) (CTV NEWS) Also, the IDF announces that it has killed Abu Jafaar, a leading Hezbullah commander in charge of the central Lebanese border. (Haaretz)(CNN)
  • United States-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon.(BBC NEWS), (Al-Jazeera)
  • A missile fired by Israel, has hit a house in Lebanon; seven civilians confirmed dead. (AP)
  • Israel says it will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until an international force can be deployed.(BBC), (Al-Jazeera)(NY Times)
  • 90 rockets have been fired at northern Israel, killing an Israeli-Arab teenager and wounding about 20 others. (Haaretz)
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Operation Summer Rains):
  • The Israeli army has been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields in an operation in northern Gaza. According to the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an incursion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week.(BBC NEWS)