Jounieh, Lebanon - 'This is not Hezbollah Land' wailed a Christian woman as she watched a bridge near her house north of Beirut being destroyed.
'Lebanon is not for Hezbollah,' she roared as she watched Red Cross volunteers struggling to pull a car with a dead body in it from under the rubble.
Israeli warplanes raided early Friday four bridges linking the capital with northern Lebanon, the last remaining escape route for Lebanese to neighbouring Syria.
In the Jounieh area, a Christian heartland, 20 kilometres north of Beirut, the bridge next to the Casino du Liban was struck by two Israeli missiles blocking the major road link to other areas in north Lebanon.
'The Israelis are now carrying a war of destruction against Lebanon ... they are not only after Hezbollah ... they are now after destroying our infrastructure,' shouted Tony Feghali, who lives close by.
Jounieh is a major, residential seaside area, with large hotels, beaches and restaurants. It is also the location of the once- luxurious Casino du Liban.
'People call this area the Monte Carlo of the Middle East... so this is definitely not a Hezbollah military base,' Joseph Semaha, a hotel owner in the area said.
Israel started a large-scale offensive against Lebanon on July 12 with the aim of crushing Hezbollah's military infrastructure and in retaliation for the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by the group.
Jounieh residents, who live in buildings overlooking the bridge, had not expected their district to be bombed as they felt they had been spared until now.
'Nowhere is safe in this country any more ... this Israeli war is against the Lebanese civilians and the infrastructure and not Hezbollah, as the Israeli claim,' Semaha said.
