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Over a thousand Lebanese villagers race against time

Atul Aneja

Indian naval ships evacuate 794 persons, including Sri Lankan nationals

BEIRUT: Faced with an ultimatum from Israel to vacate, more than a thousand residents of eight Lebanese villages were racing against time to get out of harm's way.

These villagers were given a three-hour notice to leave on Wednesday afternoon, the Mayor of the border village of Al Bustan, Shamman Mohammed Al-Nasser said.

He said that at 1:00 p.m. local time, Israeli soldiers in military jeeps stopped close to the border barbed wire fence. They threatened to bomb the villages if the residents did not leave by a 4 p.m. deadline. Consequently, around 300-500 families were desperately heading in the direction of the city of Tyre, the focal point of the war-displaced, around 12 kilometres away.

Three Indian Navy ships, led by INS Mumbai, evacuated 794 persons, including around 400 Sri Lankan nationals from Beirut on Wednesday evening. The ships headed for Larnaca in Cyprus.

Israel has bombed a United Nations post in southern Lebanon, killing four peacekeepers and triggering an international outcry. The four members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were each from Austria, China, Finland and Canada. None of the members of the over 600-strong Indian contingent in UNIFIL was affected, India's Ambassador to Lebanon, Nengcha Lhouvum told The Hindu . U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the attack as "apparently deliberate."

Up to 13 Israeli soldiers were reported killed in southern Lebanon on Wednesday following fierce fighting with Hizbollah militants, around the strategic Hizbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail.

Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has appeared on television, where he has warned that future rocket attacks could target areas beyond the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

With the U.S. and Israel opposing a ceasefire, the conflict between Israel and the Hizbollah showed signs of further escalation.

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