Hezbollah guerrillas fought Israeli troops pushing further into
southeast Lebanon Thursday, though an Israeli cabinet minister said
plans for a deeper ground assault were on hold to give diplomacy a
chance.
Hezbollah fired nearly 70 rockets into Israel, killing a woman
and a toddler in an Israeli Arab village, medics said.
An Israeli air raid killed a motorcyclist near Tyre Thursday.
Another strike killed a civilian in the Bekaa Valley.
An Israeli force headed towards the southeastern town of Khiam
amid heavy artillery shelling and air strikes on Hezbollah
positions, residents said. Infantry moved through the Christian
towns of Marjayoun and Qlaiah overnight and imposed a curfew.
The fighting intensified even though Israel's tourism minister
said plans for an expanded ground offensive, approved on Wednesday,
had been put on hold to allow more time for US-led diplomatic
efforts to bear fruit.
The UN Security Council has been divided over a resolution aimed
at stabilizing the area by deploying an international force to back
the Lebanese army. No vote seems imminent.
"We can allow a little more time to see if there's a possibility
for a diplomatic process," said minister Yitzhak Herzog, a member
of Israel's security cabinet.
Israel's well-flagged plans for a bigger offensive are intended
partly to ratchet up pressure on the Beirut government to accept
the Jewish state's terms for halting hostilities.
Israeli leaflets dropped on Beirut told people in the crowded
Shiyah, Burj al-Barajneh and Hay al-Sulloum districts to leave or
be bombed. The Shi'ite suburbs have already been heavily hit.
The conflict, now in its fifth week, has created an acute
humanitarian crisis, especially for an estimated 10,000 people
trapped in south Lebanon, where aid agencies said hospitals were
running out of food, fuel and other supplies.
The UN World Food Program urged both sides to stop fighting,
saying relief efforts were now facing paralysis.
"Above all, we require a cessation of hostilities by both sides
to allow humanitarian aid through," Zlatan Milisic, WFP emergency
co-ordinator in Lebanon, said in a statement.
He said the destruction of bridges and Israel's refusal to
guarantee the safety of aid convoys were crippling WFP efforts.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said Israel could be
destroying Lebanon while leaving Hezbollah intact.
Tuomioja, whose country holds the European Union's rotating
presidency, also said in Cairo it was "very frustrating" that a
ceasefire deal was so elusive because the Europeans had never
believed there was a military solution to the conflict.
The Israeli infantry advance towards Khiam was followed by tanks
that drew intense Hezbollah fire. "I can see two tanks burning some
500 meters from Marjayoun," one resident said. A third tank arrived
later and removed several casualties, he said, adding that
Hezbollah fighters were raining rocket and mortar fire on the
Israeli force between Marjayoun and Khiam.
(China Daily August 11, 2006)
