'Today, Hezbollah launched dozens of Katyusha rockets from in and around the village of Qana. We have repeatedly warned Lebanese residents to evacuate the area'. That was the reaction of Brigadier-General Yohanan Locker to the Israel Air Force air strike that killed more than fifty Lebanese in Qana, near the port of Tyre. This is the area from which Hizballah has launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli population centers. The rocket attacks have killed eighteen Israeli civilians and wounded hundreds of others. Brigadier Locker said he deeply regretted the deaths not only of innocent Lebanese but also of innocent Israelis who were being terrorized by Hezballah.

The Air Force officer added that Hezbollah cynically exploits Lebanese populated areas as launch pads for their rockets attacks. Today they again fired dozens of Katyushas at Israel from inside and around Qana. The rockets were aimed at Haifa, Kiryat Shemona, Afulla and many other Israeli towns and villages. In Qana this morning, the Katyusha squads took their rocket launchers and rockets from inside the buildings, fired off the rockets at Israel and then rushed back inside. The three storey building was then hit by an Israeli missile and collapsed. Fifty people, including more than twenty children, who had taken shelter in the basement were killed. Brigadier Locker went on to say: 'We try to avoid civilian casualties but Hezbollah has exploited the civilians of Qana and other populated areas as human shields'.

He expected the Israel Air Force would present aerial photos to document Heizballah's exploitation of Qana as a rocket base.

Reacting to the Qana tragedy, Prime Minister Olmert and cabinet ministers expressed deep regret saying the Israel Defense Forces do not target innocent Lebanese civilians. They pointed the finger at Hezbollah for cynically exploiting civilians and the Lebanese government for doing nothing to prevent terror attacks on Israel. Olmert told the cabinet that he is 'no hurry' to reach a cease-fire before conditions ripen for implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. It calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah and the dispatching of the Lebanese army to police the border region.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir said the deaths of Lebanese children was appalling but it was in no way deliberate. She noted that several Israeli kindergartens have been destroyed by Katyusha rockets.

In Jerusalem, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also expressed sorrow over the Qana tragedy and called on Israel to exercise 'great care' for civilians in its military operations. Dr. Rice has been trying to broker Israeli and Lebanese agreement on a new international force for southern Lebanon.

However after the Qana attack, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Senoira informed Rice not to visit Beirut until Israel agreed to an immediate cease-fire. He called the Qana bombing a war crime. Question - How would the Lebanese leader describe each of the two-thousand rockets fired deliberately at Israeli population centers from his sovereign territory?

Britain, France and a number of other countries have condemned the Israeli attack on Qana again calling it 'disproportionate'. They stressed the urgency for an immediate cease-fire.

In his latest TV speech, Hezbollah leader Sheik Nasarallah threatened to launch missiles south of the town Afulla in central Israel. On Friday, five of the bigger Syrian missiles with over one hundred kilos of explosives hit the Afulla area in central Israel. Fortunately there were no casualties. By noon today, Hezbollah had launched over one hundred missiles at Israeli population centers. Five Israelis were injured.

At their Friday news conference, U.S. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair viewed the Hezbollah aggression against Israel as part of the wider Islamist threat. While they spoke of reaching a ceasefire 'as soon as possible' both leaders stressed that it must lead to a lasting truce. This showed understanding for Israel's goal of expelling the Hezbollah threat from south Lebanon. The question after the Qana tragedy is whether Prime Minister Olmert can still count on the time he needs for the IDF to root out the Hezbollah threat before a cease-fire? Otherwise, Narsallah will trumpet the outcome as a victory over the Jewish state.