No signs war will ease

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, August 2, 2006

BOURJ AL-MULOUK, Lebanon – Hezbollah fired its biggest and deepest volley of rockets into Israel on Wednesday as Israel pursued the guerrillas with 8,000 soldiers on the ground and heavy bombing. With fighting in its fourth week and diplomatic efforts stalled, the region braced for a bitter and long war.

In eastern Lebanon, villagers wept as heavy machinery carried off the bodies of those killed in an overnight raid against a Hezbollah stronghold. Across northern Israel, forests and fields lay scorched from rocket fire that killed a Massachusetts native fleeing on his bicycle after a warning siren went off.

Hopes for a cease-fire dimmed despite a plea from Pope Benedict XVI for a quick solution. U.N. diplomats debated a draft resolution that would lay down the conditions for an international force to go in. They claimed they were making progress but acknowledged no immediate deal was in sight.

The prospect of a longer war has raised tensions across the Mideast, where anti-Israeli and anti-American hostility is now sharp. Arab leaders have warned repeatedly in recent days that the fighting has hampered, or killed outright, any hope for a long-term Israeli peace deal.

But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his country would stop its offensive only after a robust international peacekeeping force is in place in southern Lebanon – something likely to take weeks at minimum.

He predicted the fighting would create “new momentum” for Israel’s plan to separate from the Palestinians by pulling out of the West Bank.

Early today, Israel renewed air strikes against Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut’s outskirts and in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Witnesses said at least four explosions reverberated through Beirut as missiles hit Dahieh, a Shiite Muslim suburb that has been repeatedly shelled by Israel.

Lebanese television said the attacks targeted several buildings in a Hezbollah compound of Dahieh’s al-Ruweis neighborhood. The compound, which includes a center for religious teaching, has been attacked in earlier raids and sustained heavy damage. It appeared to be in flames early today.

It was the first air raid against the Lebanese capital’s suburb in almost a week.

On Wednesday, the first full day of its massive ground push, Israeli military officials said Hezbollah was putting up resistance as troops went from village to village in south Lebanon to clear them of guerrillas.

But the officials said they were confident the resistance would not change their objective of reaching roughly four miles into Lebanon by today. They said they could easily dash inland to the Litani River – their final objective about 18 miles from the border – but instead chose to move methodically so as not to leave pockets of resistance.

The Israeli forces were believed to be just two miles inside the Lebanese border in most spots.

Israel also acknowledged today that its bombing of a building in the south Lebanese village of Qana that killed 56 civilians was a mistake and said it would not have attacked if it had known civilians were inside.

But a statement on the findings of a military inquiry into the attack on Sunday also charged that Hezbollah guerrillas used civilians as human shields for their rocket attacks.