7 Canadians killed in Israeli attack
Добавлено: 17 июл 2006, 16:02
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/ ... 37c&k=2061
7 Canadians killed in Israeli attack
Family members from Montreal on summer holiday to ancestral village
News Services
Monday, July 17, 2006
CREDIT: The Associated Press
Karib Kubaisi lies in hospital after he was wounded during an Israeli warplane missile attack at the family house in Zebdine, south Lebanon, yesterday.
MONTREAL -- Hassan El-Akhras was marching in a peaceful demonstration against recent Israeli bomb attacks on Lebanon yesterday when his cellphone rang with some devastating news.
Seven Canadian citizens visiting Lebanon -- all members of El-Akhras's Montreal family -- were killed in the bombing of Aitaroun, a village in southern Lebanon yesterday.
Four children between the ages of one and eight were among the dead.
At least three other members of the same family were badly injured, said El-Akhras. The family had been hiding in the basement of their ancestral home for the past three days, family members said.
"My cousin just called me to say my father is dead, my mother is in hospital, two of my aunts, my uncle and his son and his grandson . . . they are all martyrs," said El-Akhras, 31.
Later, El-Akhras would receive another call from his cousin in Lebanon.
That call confirmed that his aunt Haniya Al-Akhras, his cousin's wife Amira Al-Akhras, 23, and their four children, Saja, 8, Zeinab, 6, Ahmad, 4, and Salam, one, were dead.
Another man died as well, but El-Akhras said he didn't know whether it was his father, Ali El-Akhras, 70, or his uncle Ahmad Al-Akhras, 60. The other was reported wounded, as were his mother, Saada El-Akhras and his cousin Ali El-Akhras, a Montreal pharmacist and the father of the dead children.
El-Akhras said all his information was based on the phone calls from Lebanon.
The elder victims had all moved to Montreal from Lebanon in the early 1990s, El-Akhras said, while his cousin's four children were born here.
Two more of his aunts, both Lebanese nationals, were also killed in the attack, he said.
He said his parents returned frequently to Lebanon to visit relatives. This time, his parents had left Montreal for Lebanon in mid-April and were to stay six months. He and his sister had planned to join the family in Lebanon tomorrow, but learned last week that all flights to the troubled region had been cancelled.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli army said after the Canadians were killed that it had warned residents of the village to clear out of the area.
"The IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] requested and warned residents of the area not to stay within range of the launch sites" used by Hezbollah to fire rockets into Israel, the army said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the federal government began organizing evacuation plans for Canadian citizens stranded in Lebanon. Officials believe there are 40,000 Canadians in the country, but only 21,000 have registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut.
Commercial ships are being secured and will be positioned off the coast of the country to evacuate Canadians, said Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.
"We're putting in place a plan that will assist all Canadians who express the interest to leave Lebanon," he told CTV Newsnet.
He said the government is working to ensure safe passage of the evacuation vessels, and that he has spoken personally to the foreign affairs ministers from Israel and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel traded rocket and missile barrages without letup for a fifth day yesterday, as the war that has suddenly flared in the Middle East showed no sign of easing. Hezbollah rockets struck deep inside Israel, killing eight people in the northern city of Haifa, and Israel answered with even more lethal blows across Lebanon and into the Bekaa Valley near Syria.
The toll on both sides rose to at least 178, including three Lebanese soldiers and many civilians, as strikes continued into today.
Israel warned of massive retaliation after the Haifa attack, and accused Iran and Syria of providing the weaponry used. Military officials said the missiles were more advanced -- with longer range and heavier warheads -- than the hundreds of rockets the guerrillas had rained on northern Israel earlier.
Early today witnesses reported that waves of Israeli air strikes had hit the Lebanese city of Tripoli and Hezbollah strongholds in the eastern town of Baalbek. Barrages from gunboats killed four in a village south of Beirut and there were reports that Israel was massing troops at the border for a possible invasion of southern Lebanon.
7 Canadians killed in Israeli attack
Family members from Montreal on summer holiday to ancestral village
News Services
Monday, July 17, 2006
CREDIT: The Associated Press
Karib Kubaisi lies in hospital after he was wounded during an Israeli warplane missile attack at the family house in Zebdine, south Lebanon, yesterday.
MONTREAL -- Hassan El-Akhras was marching in a peaceful demonstration against recent Israeli bomb attacks on Lebanon yesterday when his cellphone rang with some devastating news.
Seven Canadian citizens visiting Lebanon -- all members of El-Akhras's Montreal family -- were killed in the bombing of Aitaroun, a village in southern Lebanon yesterday.
Four children between the ages of one and eight were among the dead.
At least three other members of the same family were badly injured, said El-Akhras. The family had been hiding in the basement of their ancestral home for the past three days, family members said.
"My cousin just called me to say my father is dead, my mother is in hospital, two of my aunts, my uncle and his son and his grandson . . . they are all martyrs," said El-Akhras, 31.
Later, El-Akhras would receive another call from his cousin in Lebanon.
That call confirmed that his aunt Haniya Al-Akhras, his cousin's wife Amira Al-Akhras, 23, and their four children, Saja, 8, Zeinab, 6, Ahmad, 4, and Salam, one, were dead.
Another man died as well, but El-Akhras said he didn't know whether it was his father, Ali El-Akhras, 70, or his uncle Ahmad Al-Akhras, 60. The other was reported wounded, as were his mother, Saada El-Akhras and his cousin Ali El-Akhras, a Montreal pharmacist and the father of the dead children.
El-Akhras said all his information was based on the phone calls from Lebanon.
The elder victims had all moved to Montreal from Lebanon in the early 1990s, El-Akhras said, while his cousin's four children were born here.
Two more of his aunts, both Lebanese nationals, were also killed in the attack, he said.
He said his parents returned frequently to Lebanon to visit relatives. This time, his parents had left Montreal for Lebanon in mid-April and were to stay six months. He and his sister had planned to join the family in Lebanon tomorrow, but learned last week that all flights to the troubled region had been cancelled.
In Jerusalem, the Israeli army said after the Canadians were killed that it had warned residents of the village to clear out of the area.
"The IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] requested and warned residents of the area not to stay within range of the launch sites" used by Hezbollah to fire rockets into Israel, the army said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the federal government began organizing evacuation plans for Canadian citizens stranded in Lebanon. Officials believe there are 40,000 Canadians in the country, but only 21,000 have registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beirut.
Commercial ships are being secured and will be positioned off the coast of the country to evacuate Canadians, said Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.
"We're putting in place a plan that will assist all Canadians who express the interest to leave Lebanon," he told CTV Newsnet.
He said the government is working to ensure safe passage of the evacuation vessels, and that he has spoken personally to the foreign affairs ministers from Israel and Lebanon.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel traded rocket and missile barrages without letup for a fifth day yesterday, as the war that has suddenly flared in the Middle East showed no sign of easing. Hezbollah rockets struck deep inside Israel, killing eight people in the northern city of Haifa, and Israel answered with even more lethal blows across Lebanon and into the Bekaa Valley near Syria.
The toll on both sides rose to at least 178, including three Lebanese soldiers and many civilians, as strikes continued into today.
Israel warned of massive retaliation after the Haifa attack, and accused Iran and Syria of providing the weaponry used. Military officials said the missiles were more advanced -- with longer range and heavier warheads -- than the hundreds of rockets the guerrillas had rained on northern Israel earlier.
Early today witnesses reported that waves of Israeli air strikes had hit the Lebanese city of Tripoli and Hezbollah strongholds in the eastern town of Baalbek. Barrages from gunboats killed four in a village south of Beirut and there were reports that Israel was massing troops at the border for a possible invasion of southern Lebanon.
, там страна то меньше спичечного коробка, представляю сколько канадцев в России, уж тысяч 200 не меньше ...
