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Olmert Blames Lebanon for Attack, Sends in Troops
 Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Lebanon for a Hezbollah attack on Israel he said was ``war-like'' and called for a ``painful and far-reaching'' response. Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the daily Haaretz reported, as an army spokeswoman said a call-up of reservists was on the agenda. The military action came after the armed Hezbollah group said on its Web site it captured two Israeli soldiers. The army said there was a ``heavy suspicion'' that two soldiers were abducted. Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for later today to decide on further military action in Lebanon. ``The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was a war-like act by the state of Lebanon against Israel in its sovereign territory,'' he said at a press conference in Jerusalem. The escalation in the north threatened wider Mideast military confrontation 15 days into Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip to win the release of an Israeli soldier abducted on June 25 and to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Olmert said that the Hezbollah attack would be responded to in ``an unequivocal manner that will be very painful and far- reaching against those who initiated it.'' Israeli aircraft fired missiles into Lebanon after Hezbollah launched rockets that hit northern towns, wounding several soldiers and civilians, the army said. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel was holding Lebanon responsible for the fate of the missing soldiers Hezbollah claimed to hold. ``The Lebanese government must take determined and immediate action to find the soldiers, prevent their being hurt, and ensure their return to Israel,'' he said in a statement issued by phone from his office. Posted by: Fred 2006-07-13 |
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