Boots on the Ground

ABC News is reporting that Israeli ground troops have now crossed the border into Lebanon.

JERUSALEM Jul 17, 2006 (AP)— Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases on the border, a government spokesman said Monday. Israel's six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah following the capture of two Israeli soldiers earlier had been an aerial campaign.

The government spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said the Israeli army chief of staff confirmed that ground troops were also in Lebanon. Earlier Monday, Israeli fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese infrastructure, setting Beirut's port ablaze and hitting a Hezbollah stronghold in attacks that killed at least 17 people. Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets that flew farther into Israel than ever before.