As life returned to normal for residents of northern Israel after two days of Katyusha rocket assaults, Israeli leaders continued to weigh possible responses to the attacks.
Israeli living near the border with Lebanon emerged from their shelters Wednesday to resume their daily routines a day after dozens of Katyushas has been launched from across the border by members of the Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah movement.
Israeli warplanes continued retaliating for the rocket attacks for a third day on Thursday, bombarding Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon.
Ground fighting also erupted, with two Israeli soldiers wounded, one of them seriously, in clashes with Hezbollah guerrillas.
The soldiers were evacuated to a hospital in Haifa, where the condition of one was described as light; the second soldier was described in serious but stable condition after undergoing surgery.
Beyond the air force’s strafing of the targets, and the army’s continued artillery assaults, it appeared unlikely that Israel’s response to the Katyusha attacks would be broadened into a larger military reply.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Shimon Peres publicly blamed Syria, which he said could have prevented the Hezbollah onslaught, and hinted that Israel would mount a massive response to the attacks.
But a day later, he muted his response, reportedly telling a group of ministers there would be no large-scale retaliation.
The minister were also informed by military officials at a briefing on Wednesday that Syria had not known of Hezbollah’s plans and that there had been “no coordiantion” between Syria and Hezbollah, Army Radio reported.
Foreign Minister Ehud Barak adopted a similar muted stance, telling visiting Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Victor Possouvaliok that Syria was not directly responsible for the rocket attacks.
But he added, as Peres had stated on Tuesday, that Israel remained firm in it’s belief that Syria had the power to rein in Hezbollah activities.
While some Israeli ministers said Hezbollah should be made to pay dearly for the rocket assaults, the head of the northern command, Maj. Gen. Amiram Levine, expressed doubts that a massive retalitation would stop future Hezbollah attacks.
“We must find the way for it not to be worth their while to fire Katyushas,” he said during a tour of the north.
“I am not sure that of all things, a strong response, or `bang and it’s over,’ is the way.”
He said that previous large-scale operations in Lebanon had failed to put a stop to similar attacks.
The Hezbollah attacks – and the Israeli retaliation – came at a time of increased hopes for resuming the long sidetracked Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations.
U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross is scheduled to return to the region over the weekend to begin a shuttle mission between Jerusalem and Damascus aimed at advancing the talks.
And Peres is scheduled to fly to Washington at the end of next week to meet with President Clinton, with whom he will discuss proposals to renew the talks with Syria.
Israel Radio reported that prior to leaving for the United States, Peres would meet separately with Jordan’s King Hussein and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the two leader’s respective countries.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah vowed to continue firing rockets into northern Israel as long as the Israel Defense Force continued shelling southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah officials blamed Israel for this week’s flare-up, claiming that three of its members had been killed earlier in the week in what they said were Israeli air strikes.
Meanwhile, Syrian newspapers blamed Israel for provoking the latest violence in southern Lebanon.
The Al-Ba’ath newspaper wrote that Israel was trying to pressure Syria into concessions in negotitations, but would not be able to do so.
In the wake of the attacks, local Israeli officials began surveying the damage.
Kiryat Shmona Mayor Prosper Azran estimated the damage in his area at some $3 million.
Israel Radio reported that some 100 homeowners and 20 car owners had
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