Thousands of Lebanese civilians fled north today after Israel warned them to leave border villages and called up 3,000 army reserves in a possible prelude to a major ground offensive against Hizbullah.
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| A member of Hizbullah sifts through papers in the remains of collapsed apartment blocks in the southern suburbs of Beirut |
Amid mounting world alarm at the crisis, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice plans to leave for the Middle East on Sunday in what diplomats called a bid to reduce the fighting.
The United States has rebuffed Lebanon's appeals for an immediate UN-backed ceasefire, saying this would not last unless Hizbullah guerrillas, backed by Syria and Iran, were prevented from attacking Israel.
Ms Rice told a news conference in Washington today an immediate truce would be a "false promise" if the root causes of the fighting were not addressed.
"An immediate ceasefire without political conditions does not make sense," she said. "What I won't do is ... try to get a ceasefire that I know isn't going to last."
Washington supported proposals for an expanded international force on the Israel-Lebanon border but details were not fixed, a senior US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. A 2,000-strong UN force monitors the border at present.
Israel has so far failed to stop Hizbullah cross-border rocket attacks, despite a 10-day bombardment which has killed 345 people in Lebanon, forced half a million to leave their homes and destroyed many of the country's vital installations.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Hizbullah rockets crashed into the northern Israeli city of Haifa, wounding 19 people. Other towns were also hit. Rocket attacks have killed 15 civilians in Israel, which has also lost 19 soldiers in the conflict.
Families with possessions packed into cars and pickup trucks clogged roads to the north after Israeli planes dropped leaflets warning residents of south Lebanon to flee for safety beyond the Litani river, about 20 kilometres from the border. An estimated 300,000 mostly Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese normally reside south of the Litani. There was no word on how many have already fled the bombing and fighting of the past few days. Air raids have wrecked many roads and bridges in the region.
"The siege on Lebanon is not letting humanitarian aid in," said Hisham Hassan, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "The south is isolated."
An Israeli military source said the army had told 3,000 reserves to report for duty. The call-up came a day after Defence Minister Amir Peretz spoke of a possible land offensive.
The Israeli army could have three to four divisions on the border with Lebanon by the end of the weekend, it has been reported. The army would not confirm or deny the report.
Elite Israeli troops have been launching small-scale raids in Lebanon to try to stop Hizbullah rocket attacks. But Israel has been wary of launching a full-scale invasion, only six years after it ended a costly 22-year occupation of the south. It first invaded Lebanon in 1978, pushing up to the Litani to try to drive Palestinian guerrillas from the border.
Lebanon's defence minister said the army, which has not fought so far despite losing a score of soldiers in Israeli air strikes, would defend the country against invasion.
Israel began its assault after Hizbullah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid on July 12th. It has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28th to recover another soldier, seized by Palestinian militants.
Al Arabiya television said tonight the Israeli army had found the body of an Israeli soldier who had previously been reported missing. The body was found in southern Lebanon.