Diary of the April 1996 Aggression: April 12

Day Two of the 1996 aggression: April 12

Local Editor

The Zionist war machine continued its aggression using its artillery to systematically bombard villages and towns in the south and western Bekaa.

Shelling of Beirut's southern Dahiyeh continued for the second day, and a Syrian officer was martyred when a Syrian army post came under attack in Raml al-Aali area, near airport road.

The first brutal mass crimes committed under the title of "Grapes of Wrath" were on this day when the southern town of Suhmur was targeted, and consequently, a massacre occurred.

People had been out stocking up on goods between curfew warnings, when without warning the "Israeli" occupation army- always thirsty for blood- did not honor the lifted curfew it had declared itself, and started shelling the town killing nine martyrs, including a child and three girls, and wounding another nine.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon responded to the aggression by raining down Katyusha rockets on enemy occupation settlements, in particular the settlements of Kiryat Shmona and Mtalleh.

With the commencement of the rocket retaliations, a political message was also delivered to enemy leaders connotatively stating that Hizbullah will continue to respond and confront the aggression, and maintain the vigor, pride and dignity of the Lebanese people and nation.

Zionist brutal actions and their targeting of unarmed civilians drew Lebanese, regional and international reactions of condemnation of the military operation.

Meanwhile, the steadfastness of the Islamic Resistance and its successful response to the aggression rallied wider popular support, and with that began the first steps toward over turning the existing equation in the confrontation, which, in the absence of deterrents or confrontation in Lebanon called "resistance", had, until that moment, always been in "Israel's" favor.