Under the cover of artillery barrages, dozens of Lebanese army tanks and armoured carriers today moved against Islamic militants barricaded in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.

Prominent anti-Syrian Christian politician Pierre Gemayel was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut today, his Phalange Party Voice of Lebanon radio station reported.

Lebanese Cabinet minister and Christian leader Pierre Gemayel was shot and seriously wounded on a street in a Christian suburb of Beirut today, Christian TV and radio stations reported.

Israeli warplanes staged a series of raids in northern, eastern and southern Lebanon early today, targeting suspected Hezbollah hideouts, striking a Lebanese army base and destroying roads, Lebanese security officials said.

Israeli troops met fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas today as they crossed into Lebanon to seek tunnels and weapons after warning residents in a nearly 20 mile swath of the south along the border to flee.