Israel Strikes Village in Leb 05/26 06:07

   

   BEIRUT (AP) -- An Israeli airstrike on a village in eastern Lebanon killed 
12 people, state media said Tuesday, as an Israeli official said the military 
had called up more troops to Lebanon.

   The strike hit the village of Mashghara in the Bekaa Valley late Monday, 
according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

   It came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he had 
authorized more intensive strikes targeting the Hezbollah militant group across 
Lebanon. The Israeli military did not comment on this particular strike, but 
said Monday that it was targeting Hezbollah infrastructure in eastern Lebanon.

   An Israeli security official said the military had called up an additional 
battalion to Lebanon. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with 
regulations.

   Rescue workers say that a dozen bodies were pulled out of the rubble 
following an intense wave of overnight strikes targeting swaths of southern and 
eastern Lebanon.

   The intensified attacks come three days before Lebanese and Israeli military 
delegations are set to meet in Washington for direct talks.

   Hezbollah is attacking Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and northern 
Israeli towns, and has vowed to continue fighting until Israel stops its daily 
airstrikes and withdraws its troops from the country.

   In recent weeks, Hezbollah has boasted that it is using new fiber-optic 
drones that Israeli troops have struggled to intercept, hitting both Israeli 
troops and northern border villages.

   Israel has updated its defensive guidelines in line with the recent 
developments in its northern areas, telling people not to gather in large 
numbers.

   "What this requires of us now is to increase the blows, to increase the 
intensity. We will smite them hip and thigh," Netanyahu said in a video posted 
on social media Monday ahead of the strikes.

   The Lebanese government hopes that the direct talks with Israel, opposed by 
Hezbollah, will lead to a ceasefire.

   Over a million people in Lebanon have been displaced in the war, which was 
sparked by Hezbollah firing rockets into northern Israel on March 2 in 
solidarity with Iran.

   3,185 people in Lebanon have been killed in Israeli strikes since the start 
of the war, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Over 9,600 others have 
been wounded.

   The intensified strikes have brought fear in Lebanon of a renewed full-scale 
war, leaving the capital exposed to possible strikes again.

   "By just saying a few words on TV he (Netanyahu) causes everyone to panic 
and flee their homes," said Tony Aboud, in Beirut's bustling Hamra district. "I 
don't know what's going to happen and how long we can live like this."