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Hizbullah wants soldiers moved to Iran
Israel has information that Hizbullah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
The IDF released the names of the two soldiers on Thursday. According to the IDF Spokesperson, the two reserve are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin. Hizbullah guerrillas, who are backed by Iran, seized the soldiers Wednesday in a cross-border raid. OC Northern Command Lt.-Gen. Udi Adam said Thursday evening that the army has hit hundreds of targets in Lebanon since Wednesday night. Adam added that Israel has not ruled out sending ground forces into Lebanon. He told reporters that even Northern Command had come under Katyusha fire during the day. "I imagine over time that we will be able to rid ourselves of this threat entirely," he said.
Earlier in the day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz confirmed Thursday that the soldiers who had been kidnapped by Hizbullah a day before were still alive. "We know the soldiers are alive and we hold the Lebanese government completey responsible," he said during a tour of the North. Israel was not at war with Lebanon but at a "high volume crisis," he added. He said that a new reality has been created on the northern border that started yesterday with the deaths of eight soldiers. The focus of the operation in Lebanon would be to restore Israel's deterrent capability against those in Lebanon, referring to Hizbullah, who thought the IDF was irrelevant, he explained. "The goal is to create a new reality in the north," Halutz told reporters, "Such attacks will not be tolerated."
Halutz said the north was well protected by shelters but he could not guarantee that Israeli civilians would not be harmed during the current campaign in Lebanon. He also revealed that OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam had set up an investigative committee into Wednesday's kidnapping, which would be headed by a major general. Iran denies role in alleged Israeli soldier transfer Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday denied any involvement in an alleged plan to transfer into Iran two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Lebanese Hezbollah militants. "We categorically deny" Israeli information on an alleged plan to transfer into Iran the two soldiers who were snatched on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
Posted by: Steve 2006-07-13 |
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