Battle for Tyre Reported to be Under-Way

Greg Palkot of Fox News is reporting on Fox News that there is major activity in Tyre, Lebanon and it appears that an Israeli ground force movement could be in it's early stages. A huge number of locals have left Tyre over the past few days per The Australian on 8/2:

TENS of thousands of people fled southern Lebanon in a frantic exodus yesterday, fearing a massive invasion by Israeli troops......................Many hilltop villages south of the port city of Tyre were left abandoned yesterday, with cattle and donkeys wandering the empty streets and pet dogs abandoned...........

So who is left? Hezbollah of course:

In Qana, 11km from the Israeli border, a militant from Amal, an armed Shia group aligned to Hezbollah, claimed the battle was about to enter a new phase that would humiliate Israel. "Until now they have tried to attack us from the air and the sea without putting many soldiers in Lebanon, but now they are coming here," Bassim Bourji told The Australian.....................Even in the large port city of Sidon, placards at major intersections declared: "Take note, Muslim armies - the nose of the Jew is being rubbed in the dirt in a fight with just one faction of Lebanon."

Tyre has been the base for daily Katyusha rocket launches and is just out of reach for the IAF to hit them prior to the guerillas fading away, per the BBC:

For its part, Israel's adversary, Hezbollah, fires daily salvoes of Katyusha rockets from Tyre, leaving undulating trails of white smoke from the citrus and banana groves beyond the city's southern outskirts........................But Israel's military response around Tyre shows its fundamental weakness when dealing with a guerrilla army drawn from the indigenous population of southern Lebanon. It can take up to 12 minutes for Israeli aircraft to come and drop their 1,000-pounders on the launch sites - plenty of time for the highly-mobile rocket crews to pack up and escape................

We will know more in the AM reference to what is happening in Tyre.............

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Fox is reporting that Israeli commandos are reported to have landed in Tyre. Sounds like things are escalating................

If Israel is sending forces into Tyre, they are going "all out'. Tyre has a less than favorable place in the memory for the IDF and Israel when it comes to Lebanese military operations, per CNN (1997):

Lebanese guerrillas and soldiers ambushed a team of Israeli commandos conducting an air-and-sea raid in southern Lebanon early Friday, killing at least 11 Israeli troops in a three-hour firefight, officials in both countries said.......................Gruesome scene: By dawn, the fighting in southern Lebanon had subsided but smoke from smoldering bushes hung over the battlefield. Guerrillas picked their way through bodies and military gear abandoned by the Israelis in their retreat. One guerrilla packed a severed leg, still wearing a black military boot, into a cardboard box. A Lebanese soldier retrieved the crushed skull of a commando............

You don't go back to such a place at a time like this, unless you intend to hit it with all you have and win decisively, one would think...................

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The first press update on Tyre per Reuters:

TYRE, Lebanon (Reuters) - Helicopter-borne Israeli commandos landed near the southern Lebanese city of Tyre and clashed with Hizbollah guerrillas on Saturday, Lebanese security sources said......................Hizbollah said in a statement one Israeli soldier was killed and many were wounded in the attack. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the operation or any casualties..............Israeli helicopter fire hit a Lebanese army troop carrier during the raid and Lebanese troops fired anti-aircraft guns at Israeli aircraft, the security sources added. Five Lebanese, including an army soldier, were killed in the violence, the sources said........................................

Not much in the report and no clear picture as of yet where this is going.................

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As sketchy as earlier reports from Reuters, the Tyre report per the Jerusalem Post is also a bit short:

IAF warplanes bombarded south Beirut before dawn Saturday. Hizbullah's Al- Manar television reported explosions in the city's Shiite neighborhoods. Helicopters fired missiles at Hizbullah targets in the southern city of Tyre.............................

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Fighting in Tyre "door to door" per Fox:

Lebanese military officials said the commandos landed near an orange grove, cut through a barbed wire fence and attacked the second floor of an apartment building.
A resident said he saw the commandos attack the building. "They all had beards. I thought maybe they were Hezbollah," said 18-year-old Qassem Aad, who lives nearby........