Daily Report  

Introduction
With defiance and firm determination characterized the mood, Lebanon has restored much of its normal daily life following the "Israeli" brutal aggression against its people and infrastructure.

Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud stressed that "the "Israeli" aggressions did not paralyze everyday life, adding that Lebanon was strong through the unity of its people.

Premier Minister Salim El-Hoss affirmed Lebanon's support for the resistance "for as long as "Israel" is occupying Lebanese territories".

Meanwhile, the "Israeli" daily newspaper Ha'aretz reported that hundreds of Kiryat Shmona settlers marched through the settlement yesterday morning protesting the security and economical situation, waving signs, singing peace songs and later burning tires fo make their point.

Lahoud: "Israeli" enemy displayed barbaric activities…(1)
"With the south remaining calm over the weekend, the government reaffirmed its commitment to the resistance while diplomatic efforts gathered pace to prevent against a repetition of last week’s severe escalation".

With the drive to repair the damage caused by the air raids well underway, President Emile Lahoud praised the army and the government for its response to the offensive.

Addressing a delegation of 26 Central Bank governors from Francophone countries, Lahoud said Lebanon would demand financial compensation from "Israel" with the help of international bodies.

The president complained that some of the foreign media had reported "Israel's" attacks were in response to Hizbullah’s cross-border Katyusha raid.

But the media overlooked the "Israeli" shelling in the south which had wounded civilians, Lahoud told his visitors.

“The "Israeli" enemy displayed barbaric and monstrous activities. After shelling, destroying and burning the Jamhour power plant, the television screened several firefighters and civil defense troops who had come to put out the fire and save those trapped inside. "Israel" deliberately launched its second raid on the plant killing and wounding several of them,” he said. Lahoud said what was important was the fact that the aggressions did not paralyze everyday life, adding that Lebanon was strong through the unity of its people".

"Prime Minister Salim Hoss affirmed Lebanon’s support for the resistance “for as long as "Israel" is occupying Lebanese territories.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kharrazi flew to Damascus for talks with his Syrian counterpart Farouq Sharaa on the "Israeli" air raids.

"Israel's" outgoing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintained his belligerent tone, threatening further raids on Lebanon if cross-border rocket attacks continue.

Hoss told French Middle East envoy Aubin de la Messuziere that Hizbullah’s firing of Katyusha rockets on northern Galilee Thursday afternoon, to which "Israel" retaliated with the evening air raids, was in response to earlier "Israeli" action against civilian targets “in stark violation of the April Understanding.”

“In principle, we are against cross-border military operations. But what are "Israeli" troops doing inside our borders for more than 21 years? Isn’t this military aggression?” Hoss demanded.

The premier said that the five-nation Monitoring Group, which is due to convene Tuesday in Naqoura, “should take the adequate measures that will restore its authority.”

Stressing his visit to Lebanon was “an affirmation of France’s solidarity with Lebanon,” De la Messuziere said he believed the repeated escalations in the south would soon end.

“The Monitoring Group is to meet now under France’s direction and I am confident that the prevailing aggressive policy will end soon,” he said.

Speaking during an interview with a local radio station, Hoss affirmed that Lebanon is not willing to sign security agreement with "Israel". “"Israel's" wishes to drag Lebanon to individual negotiations and separate the Lebanese and Syrian paths but we will not accept such an alternative,” he said.

"Israeli" settlers: We want security…(2)
"Some 300 residents of Kiryat Shmona took part in a demonstration yesterday over the security and economic situation of the towns along the Lebanese border, waving signs, singing peace songs and later burning tires to make their point".

"Hundreds of Kiryat Shmona residents marched through the town yesterday morning, carrying signs that read "Kiryat Shmona is a shelter town" and "We want security," and chanting "A living with dignity."

Kiryat Shmona Mayor Haim Barbibai told the crowd, "We must receive appropriate compensation so that we can continue to defend this place."

President Weizman flew to Kiryat Shmona yesterday morning to visit the family of Shimon Elimelech, who was killed in a Katyusha attack on the town last Thursday night.

"What happened to our honor?" one of the bereaved relatives asked Weizman. "They hit one of ours, we should hit 1,000 of theirs."

"I don't want to get into an argument here," Weizman said, "but I hope a different era is beginning. It may be that the reaction should have come earlier."

The other Kiryat Shmona resident killed in the attack, Tony Zana, was laid to rest yesterday in Ashdod.

"Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak and his director general-designate, Yossi Cucik, met yesterday with a forum of local authority chairs from the border towns. Barak promised the leaders that their towns would occupy a prominent spot on his policy agenda".

Record bridge-building links up south again…(3)

Three days on, rapid construction and resilient determination characterize the mood
"As repair work to the damage caused by "Israel's" air raids surged ahead, a new four-lane bridge across the Awali river opened Sunday night after construction engineers worked around the clock over the weekend to restore the connection between Beirut and the south.

"A proud and defiant Riad Assad, the chairman of Al-Janoub construction company, which was charged with the task of restoring the link, said the work was a challenge the firm had answered. “We’re ready to build bridges in just a few hours any time "Israel" decides to bomb them,” he said.

Assad said his company had built a 12-meter-wide bridge west of the collapsed crossing, which will be able to take four lanes of heavy traffic.

"After visiting sites on Saturday Najib Mikati, the minister of public works, confidently announced “Thursday is history. The capital has been reconnected to the south.”

More than 50 soldiers from the army’s engineering units built in record time a 40-meter-long steel bridge in Aalman, just east of the collapsed Awali bridge. It is due to open Monday. Drivers can also use the existing Bqosta bridge a little further upstream.
All repairs to the targeted bridge “will definitely be finished before the end of the summer,” the minister said.

The company has already built temporary wooden steps which pedestrians can use to avoid clambering over the rubble of the damaged bridge.

“"Israel" bombed these bridges during the 1982 invasion and forced us to cross by foot,” said Bilal Jalloul, an insurance firm guard crossing the river. “It’s done it again, but we’ll never surrender to such brutality.”

“We’ll remain strong however hard "Israel" tries to demoralize us,” said plumber Ibrahim Nahouli, his tool box on one shoulder.
The rubble from the collapsed road bridge at Saadiyet near Damour was cleared over the weekend, allowing traffic to use the coastal highway once again.

The army’s sixth brigade continued to work on a provisional bridge to replace the destroyed Zrarieh bridge which crosses the Litani. The new bridge, which will connect Nabatieh with Tyre, is expected to open Monday.

Nabatieh MP Yassin Jaber, who visited the site Saturday, said that the "Israeli" aggression could only create “more unity on the local and regional level.”

“Mikati refused to give a figure for the costs of repairing damaged roads and bridges"..

"The Syrian Qasioun contracting company has offered to provide any equipment it has in the south to help rebuild, the minister said.

In Baalback, where "Israeli" planes flattened a building, residents started to repair the cracked walls, broken windows and damaged furniture in more than 28 homes in the area of the Imam Ali mosque.

Hizbullah was quick to praise the army’s work, stressing that "Israel" too had suffered infrastructure damage in the party’s cross border attacks Thursday night.

“The resistance attacks forced more than a quarter of a million "Israeli" settlers to take refuge in shelters, and caused more than 25 casualties,” said Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hizbullah’s commander in the south.

Technicians from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications have repaired telephone networks affected by the bombing of the Awali bridge.

Abdel-Monem Youssef, the director-general for investment and equipment department, supervised workers as they changed the cables and reconnected lines. Youssef said that the ministry had also provided 90,000 lines to Cellis, whose telecommunications station in Jiyeh was severely damaged, to restore services to subscribers in the south, Beqaa and southern Mount Lebanon.

"The generators that supply telephone exchanges in Dbayyeh-Boushrieh and Antelias were repaired Saturday morning."

Agony of a visit to Khiam…(4)
"Amid talk of a prisoner swap involving detainees held by the SLA, Ranwa Yehia speaks to parents desperate for the return of two sons

Toufiq Kalakesh remembers vividly the last time he saw his eldest son Adel. It was on June 3, 1993, in the occupied village of Dibbeen, Marjeyoun.

The young man, who is now 36, was abducted by fighters of the South Lebanon Army*. “I was standing on the balcony when it happened. I rushed down to shout at the men. They said they were following orders and Adel told me it was okay. That was the last I saw of him.”

He was taken to the Khiam detention center where his younger brother Riad, now 31, had been held since 1986 when he was seized during a visit to his grandparents in the village of Shaqra, Bint Jbeil.

70-year-old Toufiq Kalakesh, a retired electrician, insists that neither of his sons were members of a political party. He and his wife Noha now live in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Although the families of detainees have been allowed to visit relatives at Khiam since 1995, it was only last week that Kalakesh agreed to go with his wife to see their sons. He had refused his visitation rights previously because he “just couldn’t handle it.”
About 150 Lebanese are held in Khiam detention center without trial.

“I only decided to go because my wife said Riad was very sick,” says Kalakesh. “I’ve heard how they treat prisoners and I didn’t want to see my sons in such conditions. I just don’t like going there.”

His wife, who has been visiting her sons on a regular basis, discreetly whispered that her husband did not have the heart or the courage to see his sons through a grille. “It’s too much for him,” she said.

The International Committee for the Red Cross takes families to Khiam every three months. A grille separates the visitors from their detained relatives, forcing them to stand several meters away.

Visits are monitored by the SLA and detainees rarely speak of their experience inside. But released detainees frequently tell of barbaric treatment.

Reports issued by Amnesty International indicate that detainees in "Israeli" prisons and in Khiam are subjected to flogging, electrocution, beatings. This week there have been reports of negotiations to exchange prisoners in Khiam for SLA men held by Hizbullah.

When Kalakesh and his wife stood behind the grille expecting to see their two sons, only Adel was there. “Adel said Riad couldn’t come because he was sick but I begged the SLA to bring him because I came all the way to see him and I haven’t seen him in 13 years,” Kalakesh said.

One of the two SLA soldiers conceded, and withdrew to fetch the sick detainee.

“A few minutes later, I heard a thump and the soldier came from behind the door telling me Riad fell before he could make it out and was too sick to walk. I felt my heart was burning,” said Kalakesh, his voice faltering.

Noha Kalakesh said Riad suffered from seizures, asthma and eye infections. She said he must have had a stroke because the left side of his face was distorted and he couldn’t talk properly.

She says she does not want to see him the next time she goes to Khiam.

“Seeing us makes him more tired. Adel told me last week that Riad was extremely tired for two days after I saw him three months ago, and he’s getting worse every time,” she said.

Adel and Riad are the couples’ only male children. “I wish they had children, I would have seen my sons through my grandchildren,” Kalakesh said, recounting the tragic experience of Adel’s wife, Mona Ashour, in 1993.

Mona was two months pregnant when she was detained and put in Khiam, a week after her husband was captured.

She had a miscarriage because of the torture she was subjected to and was released exactly a year later. She remains faithful to her husband, awaiting his return.

"Israeli" Aggressions…(5)
The IR statement reported the following "Israeli" aggressions:
18:05, Qaissieh Valley was shelled by three 155mm missiles.
22:00, four 120mm shells were fired at Mount Sojod.

Military Operations…(6)
The IR team of martyrs Hussein Mohammad Borji and Hussein Mohammad Nasser attacked, at 22:10, Sojod outpost with the machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Direct hits were chalked up, the mujahedeen reported.