19 killed as Israel raids hospital

· Israel claims to have captured guerrillas
· Olmert vows to carry on fighting

Agencies
Wednesday August 2, 2006

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The Israeli army said today it had seized Hizbullah fighters in a jet and helicopter raid that killed 19 people, including four children, around a hospital in eastern Lebanon.

Military sources said Israeli troops attacked guerrillas at the Dar al-Hikma hospital near Baalbek - an ancient city 80 miles north of the Israeli border - and took several of them to Israel.

Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said the three-week-old offensive in Lebanon would stop only once a robust international peacekeeping force was in place.

Israel refused to identify the guerrillas it captured at the hospital, but the target of the raid was thought to be Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, a member of the Hizbullah high council and a representative of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Residents of the area claimed the hospital was financed by an Iranian charity, the Imam Khomeini Charitable Society, which is close to Hizbullah.

Hizbullah confirmed some people had been seized, but claimed they were civilians.

"It will not be long before the enemy will discover that they are ordinary citizens," Hizbullah said in a statement broadcast on its al-Manar television channel.

Hizbullah's chief spokesman, Hussein Rahal told Associated Press that fierce fighting raged for more than one hour at the hospital, which witnesses said was partially destroyed.

"A group of Israeli commandos were brought to the hospital by a helicopter," Mr Rahal said. He added that Israeli jets were attacking the surrounding guerrilla force with missiles.

At least 12 people were killed in an air strike on the village of Jammaliyeh near Baalbek. A missile hit the house of the village's mayor, Hussein Jamaleddin, instantly killing his son Ali, the mayor's brother Awad, and five other relatives, witnesses said.

The witnesses said the mayor - who survived the raid - and his relatives were political opponents of Hizbullah, and had apparently been hit randomly.

A family of five were also killed in a strike on the village of Saath. Later Mr Olmert gave a defiant interview to Reuters. He said: "If indeed, as we hope, the international force will be an effective force made of combat units, then we will be able to stop fire when the international force will be on the ground in the south part of Lebanon."

Asked if that meant Israel would carry on fighting until then, Mr Olmert said: "Yes."