Hezbollah attacks - July 12
Smoke rises from an Israeli air raid Wednesday in the Zahrani region on the Mediterranean coast of southern Lebanon. Israeli troops sent warplanes, gunboats and ground troops into the area after Hezbollah fighters launched a raid into Israel and captured two Israeli soldiers. (Mohammed Zaatari / AP)
Lebanese men inspect a bridge that was destroyed by Israeli jets during today’s fighting. Eight Israeli soldiers, at least two Lebanese civilians and a Hezbollah fighter were killed in the violence. (Hussein Malla / AP)
Israeli artillery soldiers are surrounded by smoke and dust as they fire across the border into southern Lebanon from a position on the frontier in Zaura, northern Israel. With today’s action, Israeli troops are now battling on two fronts: Lebanon to the north and the Gaza Strip to the southwest. (Oded Balilty / AP)
An F-16 warplane is prepared for take off for a mission in Lebanon from Israel’s Ramat David air force base. (Uriel Sinai / Getty Images)
Lebanese soldiers and civilians check the damage to an ambulance that was hit during the Israeli airstrike. Israel bombarded Lebanon from the land, sea and air to retrieve two soldiers snatched by Hezbollah today, the first such major offensive against its neighbor since a 2000 pullout. (Ramzi Haidar / AFP / Getty Images)
An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires toward southern Lebanon near the Israeli-Lebanon border. The Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese guerrillas and said it held the Lebanese government ‘directly responsible’ for their fate and safe return. (Pierre Terdjman / EPA)
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speaks during a press conference at Hezbollah headquarters in the southern suburb of Beirut. Nasrallah said today that Israel’s military assault in Lebanon will not win the freedom on two captured Israeli soldiers; rather, they will only be released as part of a prisoner swap. (Wael Hamzeh / EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wipes his brow during a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at Olmert’s official residence in Jerusalem. Olmert called Hezbollahs’ multiple attacks against Israel’s northern border with Lebanon an “act of war” and promised that Israel’s response “will be restrained, but very, very, very painful.” (David Silverman / Getty Images)
