Categories
· Agricultural
· Terrorism
non-USA, by Country
· Lebanon
|
Jump to full article: AP, 2006-08-23
Author: TODD PITMAN Associated Press Writer
Intro: AITA AL-SHAAB, Lebanon (AP) -- First came the tanks. Then came the warplanes. Then came the bulldozers. A monthlong Israeli assault and weeks of fierce ground combat between Israel and Hezbollah fighters have reduced this once-vibrant tobacco farming village and Hezbollah stronghold to a wasteland of rubble, scorched trees and unexploded bombs - a snapshot of the destruction the 34-day war wrought across southern Lebanon.
In this village from which Hezbollah guerrillas launched the July 12 raid into Israel that ignited the war, there is no electricity, no running water and no talk of reconstruction. Most of Aita al-Shaab will likely have to be torn down to be rebuilt.
"This has set us back 100 years," . . .
Tobacco fields have been withered or burned, and sandwich shops and hair salons obliterated. The stench of dead animals - horses, cattle, sheep - rises from underneath the destruction.
"Just about everyone in this village is a farmer," said Srour's brother, 67-year-old Ali Abed. "Our animals are dead now."
Jump to full article » |