Israel, Hezbollah press on

Published 9:00 pm Monday, August 7, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Israeli jets in a relentless hunt for Hezbollah rockets raided sites across Lebanon on Monday, cutting roads and killing about 50 civilians. Despite the attacks, Hezbollah fighters fired 160 more of the weapons into northern Israel. Ten Israelis were reported injured.

In Beirut, foreign ministers from Arab countries called for an immediate cease-fire. An emotional Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora accused Israel of state terrorism; officials in Jerusalem signaled an intention to expand their offensive, which they say is necessary to protect Israeli citizens from terrorist attacks.

Ground fighting continued in multiple locations in hilly southern Lebanon. Three Israeli soldiers were killed and seven wounded in combat in the heavily damaged town of Bint Jbeil, the Israeli military said.

Neither Israel nor Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim militia backed by Syria and Iran, has found an incentive to stop fighting, and both may be trying to gain advantage on the ground before a cease-fire.

Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a parliamentary committee that the country is preparing to expand military operations unless the United Nations finds a solution quickly. The Israeli military is now telling civilians in southern Lebanon to remain inside their houses instead of fleeing the area.

And Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel could not withdraw before the arrival of an international force. “The moment we leave, Hezbollah will return.”

Meanwhile, in a tearful speech to Arab foreign ministers in Beirut, the Lebanese prime minister rejected a U.N. cease-fire plan backed by President Bush, demanding on Monday that Israel immediately pull out from southern Lebanon even before a peacekeeping force arrives to act as a buffer between Hezbollah and the Jewish state.

Saniora’s Cabinet voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw south of the border.

The move was an attempt to show that Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, which is run by Hezbollah.

The U.N. resolution calls for “a full cessation of hostilities” based on “the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations.” But it makes no explicit mention of an Israeli withdrawal.

Washington and Paris were expected to circulate a new draft resolution later Monday, which includes a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. soldiers, but they decided to wait until they heard from the Arab foreign ministers, who plan to meet today with the Security Council.