Israeli tanks, soldiers moving towards the Lebanese border

(31 Jul 2006)
Northern Israeli side of border
1. Israeli soldiers crouched on road at sunrise
2. Close-up of soldier, tilt-down to rifle
3. Various of troops walking along road towards border
4. Tilt-up from two soldiers to houses on hillside on Lebanese side of the border
5. Troops walking towards border, tanks and Lebanese hillside in background
6. Soldier in tank raising his hand
7. Tilt-down from houses on hillside on Lebanese side of the border to soldier in tank
8. Tank driving towards border
Shot from Northern Israeli side of border looking towards Khiam Valley area on Lebanese side of border
9. Israeli tank hit by rocket on Lebanese side of border, plumes of smoke rising from tank
10. Wide shot of area where tank hit
11. Wide shot of Israeli soldiers escaping from tank hit by rocket
12. Pan from mosque to plumes of smoke from explosion near house
13. Wide shot of smoke-covered hillside
STORYLINE:
Israeli tanks and troops could be seen moving towards the Lebanese border early on Monday.
The exact location of the ground forces cannot be given due to IDF (Israeli Defence Force) restrictions.
Later in the morning, an Israeli tank was struck by a rocket on the Lebanese side of the border.
Soldiers could be seen escaping from the tank seconds later.
Hours earlier, Israel began a 48-hour suspension of airstrikes in Lebanon after a Sunday bombing killed at least 56 Lebanese civilians, most of them women and children, in the village of Qana.
The attack escalated international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cut short her Mideast mission.
For eight days, Rice has been in meetings around the globe, trying to find a consensus to end the 20 days of fighting between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah.
Rice said on Monday she will push for a ceasefire and a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a U.N. Security Council resolution this week.
The attack on Qana brought Lebanon's death toll to more than 510 and pushed American peace efforts to a crucial juncture, as fury at the United States flared in Lebanon.
Many in the Arab world and Europe see the United States as holding the key to the conflict, believing that Israel would have to stop its offensive - sparked by Hezbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid - if its top ally Washington insisted it had to.
The Beirut government said it would no longer negotiate over a US peace package without an unconditional ceasefire.

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