Israel prime minister Ehud Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz faced new calls to resign today after Israel’s army chief stepped down, succumbing to widespread outrage over the handling of last summer’s inconclusive war in Lebanon.

A Hezbollah Cabinet minister today said the group would not release two captured Israeli soldiers unconditionally, and that they would only be freed in a prisoner exchange.

Westerners fled by land, sea and air as Israel launched waves of bombings that hit south Beirut, the border and the eastern city of Baalbek in the early hours today.

Hezbollah tonight dismissed international ceasefire proposals as “Israeli conditions”, accusing foreign envoys of allowing Israel time to continue its military offensive to force Lebanon into submission.