Aid has been arriving in Tyre. Israel is bombing Tyre and staging raids.

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05 August 2006

Israeli Commandos Raid Lebanese City of Tyre

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-08-05-voa12.cfm

Israeli commandos have stormed an apartment complex in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, trying to capture or kill leaders of a local Hezbollah unit they believe had been firing long-range rockets into Israel. At least five people have been killed, including a Lebanese soldier, and the Israeli military says eight of its troops are wounded.

This is the first time since the conflict began that Israeli commandos are known to have been on the ground in Tyre. The attack follows a similar airborne raid in the city of Baalbek on Tuesday, when Israeli commandos stormed a disused hospital and took several Hezbollah captives.

It is clear that the military activity around Tyre is far from over. A few hours after the raid here, another two rockets struck near the city center, killing two men on a moped. Heavy shelling around town has continued.

One of the bombs dropped during the raid destroyed the main road leading out of Tyre toward the north. That will seriously complicate efforts to bring aid shipments into the city by road.


Food and aid for the devastated Lebanese citizens is arriving in the port of Tyre . . .


04 Aug 2006 16:38:00 GMT

Shipping relief to Lebanon

Source: British Red Cross Society - UK
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/216872/123c858c1ba050bf3bb63daeb8354dea.htm

Red Cross relief supplies are reaching southern Lebanon through the port of Tyre for the first time as the conflict continues in the Middle East.

Aid has been arriving in Tyre from the Red Cross continuously throughout the crisis but it has previously been shipped into Beirut and then transported in convoys of trucks over mountain roads. Being able to ship aid directly into the port of Tyre will drastically cut down the time it takes for aid to get to those who most need it.

Speaking from Tyre, Red Cross spokesperson Roland Huguenin said: "The Red Cross has now commissioned a boat in Cyprus, which is the only boat able to come into the harbour, and this has docked twice in Tyre so far this week. Hopefully the ship should be able to travel back and forth every other day."

Speaking from Tyre, Red Cross spokesperson Roland Huguenin said:

"Many of these people have lived for two weeks with very little food, no access to running water and no electricity. They have no fuel for their generators, so they cannot pump water into tanks. We saw craters in the road, wrecks of cars filled with dead bodies, extensive devastation and hundreds of people living terrified in basement shelters."

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1. Tyre: A city in fear as the faithfull are called to prayer

By RICHARD PENDLEBURY, Mail on Sunday 21:36pm 5th August 2006

As dawn broke over a shellshocked Tyre, no one had slept and a pall of smoke still hung over the old port, rising from a burning tank. A few families had packed their belongings and were heading north out of town, white flags fluttering from car windows, their determination to remain finally broken.

Tyre has been hit several times by airstrikes since this war began but this raid was the most daring attempt yet to limit Hezbollah's ability to strike central Israel - and from it emerged reports of a new sinister tactic being used by Israeli special forces to carry out operations deep inside Lebanon.

Unconfirmed eyewitness reports suggested the Israeli soldiers involved had been disguised as Hezbollah fighters and carried weapons used by the guerrilla group. Certainly, all the spent small arms casings that I saw in the aftermath were from Kalashnikov AK-47s, the rifle favoured by Hezbollah.

A resident said he saw the 'imposter army' commando force attack the building. "They all had beards. I thought maybe they were Hezbollah,' 18-year-old Qassem Aad said of the Israelis.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=399252&in_page_id=1770

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2. Israel cuts main artery for aid into south Lebanon (Tyre)

EIRUT, Aug 7 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike destroyed the last crossing over Lebanon's Litani river on Monday, cutting off the main artery for aid to the southern port of Tyre and hard-hit areas nearby, a humanitarian group said.

Christopher Stokes, director of operations for Medecins San Frontieres (MSF), said the bombing of a makeshift bridge had blocked a convoy of food, medical aid and fuel to Tyre, which has seen an increase in wounded from heavy fighting this week.

"Our last remaining supply route into Tyre into the south has been cut," he said after the air strike on the Qasmiyeh crossing about 10 km (6 miles) north of Tyre. The main Qasmiyeh road bridge was knocked out by earlier air raids.

The agency said it would drive the supplies to the river's edge at a narrow crossing and then pass them across by hand -- a dangerous operation after an Israeli air strike hit a truck about 40 metres (yards) from a U.N. convoy, killing two civilians, on Sunday.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07695688.htm