Heavy Israeli toll in fierce fighting
Israel's army suffered heavy casualties in a battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon on Wednesday and Al Jazeera Television said at least nine soldiers had been killed.
Al Arabiya Television said 12 were killed during fierce clashes in the town of Bint Jbeil, a key militia stronghold 4 kilometres in Lebanon. The stations gave no further details.
Such a toll would be the heaviest for Israel's army since it launched an offensive against Hezbollah more than two weeks ago.
Israeli media said up to 13 soldiers had been wounded. An army spokesman said he could only confirm several soldiers were wounded.
Israeli forces have been battling for days to take over Bint Jbeil, since seizing a village closer to the border last week.
Hezbollah earlier said in a statement in Beirut that fierce clashes were raging around Bint Jbeil. It said guerrillas had confronted Israeli forces trying to advance towards the town from a nearby hill.
The army estimates it has killed up to 30 guerrillas in the battle for the Bint Jbeil stronghold, home to 4000 people.
Until the latest fighting, nine Israeli troops had been killed in the ground offensive inside southern Lebanon.
Taking Bint Jbeil would be a morale-booster for Israel, which launched its Lebanese offensive after Hezbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two others in a July 12 border raid.
Senior officers have described it as the main Hezbollah outpost in southern Lebanon.
Clearing Bint Jbeil could also be part of Israel's plan to establish a no-go zone for the guerrillas in southern Lebanon until an international force arrives to take over.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz said on Tuesday Israel would control a "security strip" along the 80-kilometre frontier and fire at anyone who entered.
He did not say how wide it would be. Israeli government sources estimated the zone's width at 3-4 kilometres.
According to Israeli intelligence estimates, Hezbollah fighters are holed up in a network of tunnels and trenches around Shiite Muslim villages in southern Lebanon.
Israel ordered civilians out of 14 of the villages over the weekend.
Rockets slam into Haifa
Meanwhile, a fresh barrage of Hezbollah rockets slammed into the northern Israeli city of Haifa today, wounding several people, police said.
One rocket landed near a car, seriously wounding a driver, medics said.
The fresh strike came as the United Nations chief aid official, Jan Egeland, was visiting the coastal city, a favoured Hezbollah target.
At least 11 rockets also landed in the town of Carmiel. It was unclear if there were any casualties.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to take the war deeper into Israel, suggesting there could be strikes at cities south of Haifa.
Such use of longer-range missiles would most likely trigger massive Israeli retaliation.
Nasrallah, whose group ignited the war by capturing two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid, said: "We cannot accept any condition humiliating to our country, our people or our resistance.
"Yes, the limit of our bombardment will not remain Haifa, regardless of the enemy's response. We will move to the phase of 'beyond Haifa'."
The current conflict is the first in which Hezbollah rockets have hit Haifa, Israel's third largest city.
UN deaths add to pressure for ceasefire
Israel strove today to limit the diplomatic damage from its killing of four UN observers in Lebanon ahead of an international conference in Rome on how to end its 15-day-old war with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah vowed not to accept any "humiliating" truce terms.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of his "deep sorrow" at the killing of the four UN observers, but voiced shock at Mr Annan's suggestion the attack was deliberate.
"The Prime Minister said he would never fathom the thought that the mistake that was made would be categorised by the UN as an action that was done intentionally," said a statement from Mr Olmert's office. He said he would order an investigation.
Mr Annan had demanded Israel probe the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the UN post in the village of Khiam yesterday.
Three bodies of UN observers recovered
Three of the corpses of the UN observers have been recovered and intense efforts were under way to recover the final body from beneath the rubble, a security source said today.
Fifty of the victims' former comrades from the Indian contingent of UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were desperately bidding to extract the remaining corpse with their hands or using improvised shovels, the source said.
The bodies of the three other soldiers were taken out some hours after the Israeli raid that destroyed their two-storey building in Khiam, equipped with an air raid shelter, which had served as their post.
Attempts to bring in a bulldozer were in vain but the Lebanese security source said that Israel had agreed to cease its bombardment to allow the recovery operation to continue.
China demands apology
China condemned the air raid, in which a Chinese national was killed. Its official Xinhua news agency said the other three observers were from Finland, Austria and Canada.
"The Chinese side is deeply shocked and strongly condemns this," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement, adding that the strike had killed "many innocent victims".
"The Chinese side demands that all sides in the confrontation, especially Israel, take all measures to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers," the statement said.
Liu said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun had called in Israeli ambassador Yehoyada Haim this morning for an "emergency" meeting over yesterday's incident.
"The Chinese side ... demands that the Israeli side open a comprehensive investigation, apologise to the Chinese side and the victim's family and help the Chinese side in carrying out the mourning activities," the ambassador was told.
In contrast to the United States's stance, China said diplomacy, and not war, was the way to ensure stability in the region.
"We urge all parties to immediately implement a ceasefire and quickly return to the path of negotiation," Liu said.
"China will make more diplomatic efforts with the international community to push forward the resumption of peace and stability in the Middle East region."
Fighting in Bint Jbeil
An Israeli soldier was killed and five were wounded in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerillas in the southern town of Bint Jbeil today, Al Jazeera television said.
An Israeli army spokesman said only that several soldiers had been wounded in clashes around the town, which Israel says is a Hezbollah stronghold, four kilometres inside Lebanon.
UN officials said the air strike flattened the building housing the observers. Lebanese security sources said three of the bodies had been dug out of the rubble.
"This attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post at Khiam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire," Mr Annan said in a statement.
The war has already killed 418 people in Lebanon and 42 Israelis. Israeli bombing has forced an estimated 750,000 to flee their homes. Many are still trapped in war zones.
The first UN aid convoy left Beirut for the southern port city of Tyre. The 10-truck convoy was carrying 90 tonnes of supplies, enough to feed 50,000 people for three months.
"This is a small convoy. This is a litmus test for the security controls in place," Khaled Mansour, a UN spokesman, told Reuters as the convoy left Beirut port.
Lebanon and its Arab allies were to plead at the Rome talks today for an immediate truce, but Washington says a lasting solution needs to be agreed first.
Israel, with apparent US approval, has said it will press on with its offensive. It also said it planned to set up a "security strip" in Lebanon until international forces were deployed.
Gaza offensive
Israel has also been waging an offensive in Gaza since June 28 to recover a soldier seized by Palestinian militants. Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, including a three-year-old child and wounded 30, today, medics and witnesses said.
Israel has stepped up air strikes and launched raids in Gaza to retrieve the soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Altogether 129 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive.
Arab leaders and Mr Annan want the Rome conference to call a quick halt to the conflict but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has visited Beirut and Jerusalem, says she prefers to get conditions right for "a durable solution".
Israel and Syria, Hezbollah's main ally along with Iran, have not been invited to the Rome conference.
Hezbollah wants a truce to be followed by talks on swapping the two Israelis for Arab and Lebanese prisoners in Israel.
The US demands Hezbollah free the soldiers unconditionally and pull back from the border before disarming.
The Rome meeting will also seek agreement on what kind of international force could be sent into southern Lebanon - a mission fraught with danger unless Hezbollah consents.
Agencies
Al Arabiya Television said 12 were killed during fierce clashes in the town of Bint Jbeil, a key militia stronghold 4 kilometres in Lebanon. The stations gave no further details.
Such a toll would be the heaviest for Israel's army since it launched an offensive against Hezbollah more than two weeks ago.
Israeli media said up to 13 soldiers had been wounded. An army spokesman said he could only confirm several soldiers were wounded.
Israeli forces have been battling for days to take over Bint Jbeil, since seizing a village closer to the border last week.
Hezbollah earlier said in a statement in Beirut that fierce clashes were raging around Bint Jbeil. It said guerrillas had confronted Israeli forces trying to advance towards the town from a nearby hill.
The army estimates it has killed up to 30 guerrillas in the battle for the Bint Jbeil stronghold, home to 4000 people.
Until the latest fighting, nine Israeli troops had been killed in the ground offensive inside southern Lebanon.
Taking Bint Jbeil would be a morale-booster for Israel, which launched its Lebanese offensive after Hezbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two others in a July 12 border raid.
Senior officers have described it as the main Hezbollah outpost in southern Lebanon.
Clearing Bint Jbeil could also be part of Israel's plan to establish a no-go zone for the guerrillas in southern Lebanon until an international force arrives to take over.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz said on Tuesday Israel would control a "security strip" along the 80-kilometre frontier and fire at anyone who entered.
He did not say how wide it would be. Israeli government sources estimated the zone's width at 3-4 kilometres.
According to Israeli intelligence estimates, Hezbollah fighters are holed up in a network of tunnels and trenches around Shiite Muslim villages in southern Lebanon.
Israel ordered civilians out of 14 of the villages over the weekend.
Rockets slam into Haifa
Meanwhile, a fresh barrage of Hezbollah rockets slammed into the northern Israeli city of Haifa today, wounding several people, police said.
One rocket landed near a car, seriously wounding a driver, medics said.
The fresh strike came as the United Nations chief aid official, Jan Egeland, was visiting the coastal city, a favoured Hezbollah target.
At least 11 rockets also landed in the town of Carmiel. It was unclear if there were any casualties.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to take the war deeper into Israel, suggesting there could be strikes at cities south of Haifa.
Such use of longer-range missiles would most likely trigger massive Israeli retaliation.
Nasrallah, whose group ignited the war by capturing two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid, said: "We cannot accept any condition humiliating to our country, our people or our resistance.
"Yes, the limit of our bombardment will not remain Haifa, regardless of the enemy's response. We will move to the phase of 'beyond Haifa'."
The current conflict is the first in which Hezbollah rockets have hit Haifa, Israel's third largest city.
UN deaths add to pressure for ceasefire
Israel strove today to limit the diplomatic damage from its killing of four UN observers in Lebanon ahead of an international conference in Rome on how to end its 15-day-old war with Hezbollah.
Hezbollah vowed not to accept any "humiliating" truce terms.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan of his "deep sorrow" at the killing of the four UN observers, but voiced shock at Mr Annan's suggestion the attack was deliberate.
"The Prime Minister said he would never fathom the thought that the mistake that was made would be categorised by the UN as an action that was done intentionally," said a statement from Mr Olmert's office. He said he would order an investigation.
Mr Annan had demanded Israel probe the "apparently deliberate targeting" of the UN post in the village of Khiam yesterday.
Three bodies of UN observers recovered
Three of the corpses of the UN observers have been recovered and intense efforts were under way to recover the final body from beneath the rubble, a security source said today.
Fifty of the victims' former comrades from the Indian contingent of UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were desperately bidding to extract the remaining corpse with their hands or using improvised shovels, the source said.
The bodies of the three other soldiers were taken out some hours after the Israeli raid that destroyed their two-storey building in Khiam, equipped with an air raid shelter, which had served as their post.
Attempts to bring in a bulldozer were in vain but the Lebanese security source said that Israel had agreed to cease its bombardment to allow the recovery operation to continue.
China demands apology
China condemned the air raid, in which a Chinese national was killed. Its official Xinhua news agency said the other three observers were from Finland, Austria and Canada.
"The Chinese side is deeply shocked and strongly condemns this," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement, adding that the strike had killed "many innocent victims".
"The Chinese side demands that all sides in the confrontation, especially Israel, take all measures to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers," the statement said.
Liu said Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun had called in Israeli ambassador Yehoyada Haim this morning for an "emergency" meeting over yesterday's incident.
"The Chinese side ... demands that the Israeli side open a comprehensive investigation, apologise to the Chinese side and the victim's family and help the Chinese side in carrying out the mourning activities," the ambassador was told.
In contrast to the United States's stance, China said diplomacy, and not war, was the way to ensure stability in the region.
"We urge all parties to immediately implement a ceasefire and quickly return to the path of negotiation," Liu said.
"China will make more diplomatic efforts with the international community to push forward the resumption of peace and stability in the Middle East region."
Fighting in Bint Jbeil
An Israeli soldier was killed and five were wounded in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerillas in the southern town of Bint Jbeil today, Al Jazeera television said.
An Israeli army spokesman said only that several soldiers had been wounded in clashes around the town, which Israel says is a Hezbollah stronghold, four kilometres inside Lebanon.
UN officials said the air strike flattened the building housing the observers. Lebanese security sources said three of the bodies had been dug out of the rubble.
"This attack on a long established and clearly marked UN post at Khiam occurred despite personal assurances given to me by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that UN positions would be spared Israeli fire," Mr Annan said in a statement.
The war has already killed 418 people in Lebanon and 42 Israelis. Israeli bombing has forced an estimated 750,000 to flee their homes. Many are still trapped in war zones.
The first UN aid convoy left Beirut for the southern port city of Tyre. The 10-truck convoy was carrying 90 tonnes of supplies, enough to feed 50,000 people for three months.
"This is a small convoy. This is a litmus test for the security controls in place," Khaled Mansour, a UN spokesman, told Reuters as the convoy left Beirut port.
Lebanon and its Arab allies were to plead at the Rome talks today for an immediate truce, but Washington says a lasting solution needs to be agreed first.
Israel, with apparent US approval, has said it will press on with its offensive. It also said it planned to set up a "security strip" in Lebanon until international forces were deployed.
Gaza offensive
Israel has also been waging an offensive in Gaza since June 28 to recover a soldier seized by Palestinian militants. Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, including a three-year-old child and wounded 30, today, medics and witnesses said.
Israel has stepped up air strikes and launched raids in Gaza to retrieve the soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Altogether 129 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive.
Arab leaders and Mr Annan want the Rome conference to call a quick halt to the conflict but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has visited Beirut and Jerusalem, says she prefers to get conditions right for "a durable solution".
Israel and Syria, Hezbollah's main ally along with Iran, have not been invited to the Rome conference.
Hezbollah wants a truce to be followed by talks on swapping the two Israelis for Arab and Lebanese prisoners in Israel.
The US demands Hezbollah free the soldiers unconditionally and pull back from the border before disarming.
The Rome meeting will also seek agreement on what kind of international force could be sent into southern Lebanon - a mission fraught with danger unless Hezbollah consents.
Agencies
posted by worldnews at 4:45 AM
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