By Lin Noueihed - Reuters - Wed Aug 2, 2006
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israeli jets pounded Hizbollah`s Beirut stronghold and battles raged in the south of the country on Thursday while world powers struggled to come up with a plan to stop a war now in its fourth week.
The United States, France and Britain hope for a United Nations Security Council resolution within a week that would call for a truce and perhaps beef up existing U.N. peacekeepers until a more robust force can be formed, U.N. officials said.
But diplomatic moves to swiftly end the fighting have been beset by splits between the United States and France, mentioned as leader of the new force, over the timing of a ceasefire.
Meanwhile, violence raged on. Israeli jets launched at least four air strikes on a Hizbollah-dominated southern suburb for the first time in days. They also hit a bridge in the northern region of Akkar and hammered the eastern Bekaa Valley overnight.
Israel is expanding the ground war in southern Lebanon, where some 10,000 troops battled Hizbollah guerrillas.
One Israeli soldier was killed and four others wounded near the border village of Aita al-Shaab on Wednesday, the Israeli army confirmed early on Thursday. The death brings to 37 the number of Israeli troops killed in 23 days of fighting.
At least 643 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 56 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
The U.S.-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said late on Wednesday that the bodies of 28 people killed in an Israeli air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana had been recovered and 13 people were missing. The official Lebanese toll is 54.
TWO-PHASE SOLUTION?
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would fight on until an international force reaches south Lebanon -- even though no country has volunteered to send troops in the absence of a truce and a durable ceasefire agreement.
Olmert called for an international combat force to implement a U.N. resolution calling for Hizbollah to be disarmed, saying Israel had already destroyed much of the group`s military power.
But Hizbollah showed it was still a fighting force on Wednesday, launching 231 rockets, the most it had fired in a single day, killing one and wounding 10.
U.S. officials were still upbeat. Asked when a ceasefire could be agreed, White House spokesman Tony Snow said: "I don`t want to make a promise on it ... but I think it`s safe to say days."
The United States and France, diplomats said, are rapidly ironing out differences on an initial resolution calling for a truce, a buffer zone and the disarmament of Hizbollah.
But Paris has insisted it would not send troops without a truce and an agreement in principle on the framework for a long-term peace deal by Israel, Hizbollah and the Beirut government. Washington wants a force as soon as fighting stops.
Once fighting ends, talks would begin at the United Nations on a second resolution for a permanent ceasefire all combatants could accept and authorize an international force in the south.
BATTLES RAGE
Early on Wednesday, helicopter-borne commandos launched Israel`s deepest raid into Lebanon, killing 19, including four children, in the eastern city of Baalbek. The troops seized five militants, Israel said, but Hizbollah denied they were members.
Battles raged on Thursday in at least five areas of southern Lebanon where Israel has launched ground incursions, backed by intense shelling and air strikes.
Lebanese security sources said the Israelis had captured a hilltop at al-Aweida overlooking several villages, including Kfar Kila and Adaiseh where there was fierce fighting this week.
Israel has imposed an air and sea blockade on Lebanon since the conflict flared after Hizbollah guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
Several U.N. and Red Cross convoys bearing food and medical aid headed to hard-hit areas, but at least one was called off after failing to get Israeli clearance, aid officials said.
Israeli air strikes also killed four Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said on Thursday, in another offensive to stop militants firing rockets into Israel and pressure them into freeing an Israeli soldier captured in June.
