Over 1,300 dead; 900,000 homeless
BEIRUT/TEL AVIV: Lebanon and Israel counted their losses from 34 days of fighting as a truce between Israeli troops and Hezbollah guerrillas held for a second day on Tuesday.
The Israeli military said the air force had attacked about 7,000 targets in Lebanon and the navy had fired 2,500 shells during the conflict, while 3,970 Hezbollah rockets hit Israel.
Here are some facts about the losses on each side:
• CASUALTIES — Around 1,110 dead and 3,700 wounded, the vast majority of them civilians. The death toll includes 35 Lebanese soldiers and police, as well as five UN peacekeepers. In addition, Israel says it killed about 530 Hezbollah fighters. Hezbollah has acknowledged about 80 dead.
• DISPLACED — More than 900,000 Lebanese fled their homes. At least 60,000 foreigners were evacuated via Cyprus or Turkey. Many thousands more found their own way out.
• ECONOMY — Lebanon’s Council of Development and Reconstruction put bomb damage at $2.5 billion to the end of July. More damage was inflicted in the last two weeks of the war, when major road bridges were destroyed in the north.
— The total includes: roads, bridges, ports and airports ($404 million), power ($208 million), telecoms ($99 million), water ($74 million), industry ($190 million), military installations ($16 million).
— The Beirut Stock Market closed for two weeks after prices tumbled 14 per cent and the Central Bank spent more than $1 billion in foreign currency reserves to keep the pound stable.
— Lebanese economists have cut growth forecasts to zero or below from 5-6 per cent. Some say the economy could shrink by 2-3 per cent, with the tourism sector particularly hard hit.
— Hezbollah estimates more than 15,000 homes have been completely destroyed and many more damaged.
• ENVIRONMENT — Some 10,000-15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil spilled onto Lebanon’s coast after Israel bombed a power station south of Beirut, causing the biggest ecological crisis in the country’s history. The spill will cost at least $100 million to clean up, the environment ministry estimates.
• CASUALTIES — 117 Israeli soldiers were killed and 450 soldiers injured in the fighting with Hezbollah. At least 40 civilians were killed and some 1000 people zwounded in Hezbollah rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
• ECONOMY — The Bank of Israel has put economic damage in lost tourism and industrial activity at 5 billion shekels ($1.5 billion). Israel’s Manufacturing Association puts the cost to northern industries at 4.6 billion shekels and estimates that projected GDP may fall by 11.5 billion shekels, or 1.9 per cent.—Reuters