Fierce fighting continued in south Lebanon today between Israeli forces and Hizbollah fighters.
Israeli troops sealed off a Hezbollah stronghold and warplanes killed six people in a market city in southern Lebanon today, while Beirut was pounded by new airstrikes. Guerrillas fired rockets at northern Israel, killing a girl.
At least four heavy blasts were heard in Beirut, the first Israeli strikes in the city in nearly two days. A grey cloud billowed up from the capital's southern district, a Hezbollah stronghold that has been heavily bombarded.
Al-Jazeera television said 20 Israeli rockets hit the Dahiyah neighborhood as a quick succession of blasts set off car alarms in central Beirut, miles away, and sirens were heard.
An Israeli military official said troops had surrounded Bint Jbail, a town that has symbolic importance to Hezbollah as one of the centers of resistance to the Israeli occupation 1982-2000.
Israeli forces have seized some houses on the outskirts of the hilltop town since beginning the assault yesterday, but do not yet control Bint Jbail, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as a press statement had not been issued.
Up to 200 Hezbollah guerrillas are believed to be defending the town, which lies about 2 1/2 miles north of the Israeli border. Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV reported the fighters were mounting a strong defence against elite Israeli troops who were trying to advance under "heavy bombardment."
In a pre-dawn raid, Israeli warplanes destroyed two neighboring houses in Nabatiyeh, which lies 16 miles north of Bint Jbail and has been heavily bombarded in the past few days.
In one house, a man and his wife and their son were killed, said the couple's daughter, Shireen Hamza, who survived.
Three men died in the other house, she said.
While buried under the rubble for 15 minutes, "I just kept screaming, telling my parents to stay alive until help comes," she said. "My father kept saying to me in a weak voice, 'Shireen, stay awake. Don't sleep.'"
Security officials said seven people were killed in the blast. But Nabatiyeh Hospital received six bodies from the strike, said Dr. Marwan Ghandour.
At least 70 rockets were fired at northern Israel, and a teenage girl was killed and three other people were injured in the Arab town of Maghar.
One rocket fired at the Israeli port city of Haifa hit a bus, another hit a house and two reportedly struck close to a hospital, injuring five people, witnesses and doctors said. One man died of a heart attack while running to a bomb shelter, Israel Radio said.
Rockets also hit the towns of Kiryat Shemona, Nahariya, Tiberias, Acre and Safed.
The Israeli army said its forces have killed at least 10 guerrillas in ground incursions launched as part of an Israeli offensive in Lebanon that followed the death of eight soldiers and abduction of another two in a July 12 Hizbullah raid.
More than 400 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed in the Israeli artillery shelling and air strikes, while Hizbullah rocket salvoes have killed 17 Israeli civilians. It is not clear if there were any casualties in today's Beirut explosions, the day after US Secretary of State left the city.