War Reporting Iranian Style

Remember Baghdad Bob? He was the Iraqi Minister of Information who became an infamous caricature during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He reported massive defeats of American forces at the hands of the Iraqi military, even as US tanks rolled into the capital. Well, if you miss that kind of war reporting check out the IRIB--Islamic Republic Information Bureau. Here's what their "Latest from Gaza: Israeli armor fled Beit Lahya" has to say about the course of the fighting. [Please note that all the misspellings are in the original. My favorite is where they "pork" the spelling of Hamas to Haams.]

Israeli armored vehicles were seen fleeing Beit Lahya in Gaza after they found Palestinian snipers hunting for the invading soldiers, Hamas TV netwrok reported Sunday evening.

The snipers from the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades shot dead at least three Israeli soldiers before the armored vehicles flee the scene, it added.

In another development, a third Israeli soldier was captured in the Gaza combat between the Zionist regime and the Palestinian resistance.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the Qods Brigades announced Sunday that the Palestinian fighters could destory seven Israeli tanks in Hay al-Zaytoun area southern Gaza.

The Palestinian combatants earlier reported the killings of at least 9 Israeli soldiers and wounding of over 90 others.

Also, a joint force of Palestinian resistance descended on another column of invading Isareli soldiers with RPG and mortars, killing an unspecified number of them.

The resistance fighters also said Sunday they downed an enemy helicopter over Gaza.

The night before, a statement from Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, said that in monitoring Israeli military radio traffic, it learned that five soldiers had been killed.

It added later that the number had increased to nine with fatalities it could directly confirm. One of the dead was said to be an officer.

The Israeli army refused to comment as usual.

Haams spokesman Ismail Redwan vowed that Israeli incursion into Gaza "will not be a walk in the park and Gaza will become your cemetery."

Israeli army has escalated attacks against civilian targets inside Gaza.

A Zionist jet hit the Ibrahim al-Maqdana mosque in Jabaliya, killing at least 16 worshippers, medics and witnesses said.

Four children were among the martyrs and dozens of wounded were dragged from the rubble.