Hizballah continues to use Lebanese civilians as human shields: 34 Youths Among 56 Dead in Israeli Strike.

QANA, Lebanon (AP) - Israeli missiles hit several buildings in a southern Lebanon village as people slept Sunday, killing at least 56, most of them children, in the deadliest attack in 19 days of fighting. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed “great sorrow” for the airstrikes but blamed Hezbollah guerrillas for using the area to launch rockets at Israel.

Israel has apologized for the deaths, but made it clear where the true responsibility lies: Olmert, Halutz and Peretz apologize for Qana deaths.

Olmert said that the area was a focal point for the firing of Katyusha rockets on Kiryat Shmona and Afula. He said that from the outset of the conflict, “hundreds of rockets have been fired from the Qana area.”

Defense Minister Amir Peretz was also profoundly repentant for the fatal strike, saying, “this is a tragic incident that is a result of war. Hizbullah operates in the heart of populated centers with the full knowledge of endangering the lives of innocent civilians.”

The Associated Press story above says the people killed in this incident were “sleeping.” (And how could they possibly know that?) They must have been very sound sleepers, since Hizballah was using these areas to launch multiple rocket attacks, and the IDF has been hitting there for three days:

In a statement released on Sunday, the IDF said that as a result of Katyusha rocket attacks, 18 Israelis had been killed and hundreds of others wounded.

“The responsibility for the harm to Lebanese civilians falls on Hizbullah, which uses civilians has human shields,” the statement read.

The officer said that the air force had been targeting the village for the past three days and on Saturday night struck ten different targets inside the village. He said the building hit Sunday was picked since intelligence indicated that Hizbullah guerillas were hiding inside together with Katyusha rockets and launchers.

“We have been attacking in Qana for three days,” the high-ranking IAF officer said. “They have fired dozens of rockets from there over the past week at Kiryat Shmona, Afula and Ma’alot.”

The officer said that the guerillas fire rockets and then flee into nearby buildings.

“We warned the residents that we would be attacking there,” he said. “We work under the assumption that the villages are empty and that whoever is there is affiliated with the Hizbullah.”

Australia’s Herald Sun has obtained pictures of Hizballah using residential areas as launching zones for their terror attacks: Photos that damn Hezbollah. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

THIS is the picture that damns Hezbollah. It is one of several, smuggled from behind Lebanon’s battle lines, showing that Hezbollah is waging war amid suburbia.

The images, obtained exclusively by the Sunday Herald Sun, show Hezbollah using high-density residential areas as launch pads for rockets and heavy-calibre weapons.

Dressed in civilian clothing so they can quickly disappear, the militants carrying automatic assault rifles and ride in on trucks mounted with cannon.

The photographs, from the Christian area of Wadi Chahrour in the east of Beirut, were taken by a visiting journalist and smuggled out by a friend.

The IDF has video of rockets being launched from behind a three-story residential building: Incident in Qana.

UPDATE at 7/30/06 8:31:01 am:

There’s an astounding barrage of anti-Israel stories in mainstream media this morning. But so far, I haven’t seen one journalist ask what would seem to be a very obvious question: why were so many children in a war zone, even though the population had been warned by the IDF to leave several days earlier?

Leaflets distributed by the IDF, July 25, 2006:

Translation:

To all citizens south of the Litani River

Due to the terror activities being carried out against the State of Israel from within your villages and homes, the IDF is forced to respond immediately against these activities, even within your villages. For your safety! We call upon you to evacuate your villages and move north of the Litani River.