http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...eadlines-world
Bekaa Valley Raid Is Called a Boost for Israeli Forces
Goal of the operation is unclear, but it is the deepest penetration of Lebanon in the conflict.
By Rone Tempest and Laura King, Times Staff Writers
August 3, 2006
BEIRUT — Witnesses said the Dar al Hikma hospital in Baalbek was empty but for guards and Hezbollah fighters when the Israeli Apache helicopters struck at 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.
What followed was a withering, close-quarters fight between the guerrillas and Israeli commandos in the heart of the Bekaa Valley, 60 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. It marked the deepest penetration for Israeli forces into Lebanon in the 22-day conflict.
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The choreographed way the several dozen helicopters and fighters coursed up and down the Bekaa Valley suggested more than one agenda, witnesses said. Among them: a strike against a cache of more-lethal Hezbollah weapons, a mission to capture Hezbollah leaders, or simply a demonstration of Israel's ability to strike swiftly, decisively and at will.
The result — at least five captured Hezbollah guerrillas and no Israeli casualties — was hailed Wednesday in Israel as a clear boost for the country's forces after weeks of cloudier outcomes and outright setbacks.
But Hezbollah leader Mohammed Yazbek, rumored to be the target of the operation, spoke by telephone to the guerrilla organization's television station Wednesday to prove that he had not been captured, the Associated Press reported. Early in the attack, the group had said its fighters had trapped the elite Israeli soldiers in the hospital.
Approaching in darkness, commandos were dropped off by helicopters and covered by fire from the aircraft, according to the Israeli military.
The commandos split up, one group heading into the neighborhood near the hospital, the other entering the building and killing four armed guards at the entrance, Israeli Col. Nitzan Alon said.
"Our forces took control of the entrances of the hospital," said Alon, commander of the operation codenamed "Sharp and Smooth" in Hebrew.
In the hospital, which Israelis also believed housed Hezbollah offices, the commandos moved room to room, clearing the way with stun grenades.
"Then, while our forces were taking control of the building, [Hezbollah] reinforcements continued to arrive and were hit by ground and air forces," Alon said.
Inside the four-story building, troops fanned out from the basement to the top floors, he said during a Tel Aviv media briefing. Outside, they came under fire from nearby houses.
The Israeli military said the commandos came out six hours later without a single casualty.
Israel said it captured five fighters and killed 19 in the strike on the outskirts of the city famous for its Roman ruins. Lebanese authorities reported six captured, 11 killed.
Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese general and security expert, said that in addition to the hunt for high-ranking Hezbollah leaders, Israel may also have been searching for larger, more lethal weapons held by the rear guard.
Israeli military analysts speculated that the raid also could have been an attempt to rescue Israeli soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were captured in the July 12 Hezbollah raid that set off the current conflict.
Whatever the goal, Israeli military analyst Ron Ben-Yishai called the results a "tie-breaker."
"Even if the objectives weren't achieved in full, the raid in Baalbek undermines the myth of ground supremacy nurtured by Hezbollah," Ben-Yishai wrote on the newspaper Yediot Aharonot's YNET website. "It doesn't matter whether the units succeeded in reaching 100% of their goals — when the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] succeeds in penetrating the organization's most important military and civilian stronghold at a time it is on highest alert, this is a grave blow to morale."
In preparation for the landing by commando forces, helicopter-fired rockets and heavy machine-gun bursts raked the area near the hospital. Power cuts plunged Baalbek and surrounding villages into darkness. Flares lighted the night sky and smoke billowed from the hospital.
Residents said the swooping helicopters came in four waves.
Israeli officials said warplanes also made at least 10 bombing runs, striking the Baalbek neighborhoods thought to be home to Hezbollah figures.