The leader of Hezbollah claimed responsibility today for launching a drone which entered Israeli airspace earlier this week, a rare and provocative move by the Lebanese militants at a time of soaring regional tensions.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah today said his group possesses an arsenal of rockets that can reach "any corner” of the state of Israel, including Tel Aviv, from Lebanon.

Hezbollah-led opposition protesters paralysed Lebanon today by burning tyres and cars in and around the capital, sparking clashes with government supporters amid a general strike aimed at toppling US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Thousands of opposition protesters blocked roads with burning tyres, debris and blazing cars around the Lebanese capital of Beirut and outlying regions of Lebanon today in a bid to enforce a general strike aimed at toppling Prime Minister Fuad Saniora’s government.

Hezbollah’s leader has urged his followers to prepare for mass demonstrations to topple the government if it ignored the militant group’s demand to form a national unity coalition.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed Beirut’s bombed-out suburbs for a Hezbollah “victory over Israel” rally today, where guerrilla leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was expected to deliver a historic speech about his group’s weapons.

Hezbollah fighters are still in southern Lebanese towns and villages near the border with Israel, the leader of the militant group boasted in an interview broadcast by Al-Jazeera yesterday.

Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert promised today to bring home two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said he would not have ordered the capture of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to the Lebanon war.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah today said that “contacts” for negotiations on a prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas had begun.

Israel has begun slowly pulling out forces from southern Lebanon and made plans to hand over territory today – on the first full day of a tense ceasefire that already has been tested by skirmishes.

The UN ceasefire deal announced today will buy temporary calm, but make the next war between Israel and Tehran’s proxy army inevitable, former Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom and some military analysts warned.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement today that a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel would take effect tomorrow morning and urged an immediate halt to the fighting.

Israeli forces took control of the strategic southern hub of Marjayoun today and warned that its fight against Hezbollah could grow wider and more severe if diplomacy fails.

Israel’s security cabinet today decided to vastly expand its ground offensive and send troops deeper into Lebanon, in an attempt to deal more blows to Hezbollah and score quick battlefield victories before a Middle East ceasefire is imposed.

Israel’s military struck Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp early today, killing at least two people and wounding five, officials said. In the eastern Bekaa Valley five people were killed and two feared dead in an Israeli raid.

Thousands of Shiite youths, some armed, headed into Iraq’s capital Baghdad today for a pro-Hezbollah rally as skirmishes erupted with US troops that left at least three people dead, officials said. Fifteen rally-goers were wounded in a bus bombing.

Eight thousand Israeli troops pressed the first full day of a massive new ground attack in southern Lebanon today and said they seized five Hezbollah fighters in a dramatic raid on a north-eastern town.

Israeli planes and artillery attacks today hit Hezbollah positions and crushed houses and roads in southern Lebanon, killing up to 12 people.

Israeli warplanes and artillery intensified strikes today, hitting Hezbollah positions and crushing houses and roads in towns in southern Lebanon, killing as many as 12 people, officials said.

OTHER developments yesterday in the Middle East crisis

A top Iranian envoy was in Syria today for talks on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in a meeting that brought together the guerrilla organisation’s two key sponsors, according to Iranian news reports.

About 2,000 Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank today to show support for Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, whose guerrillas have been waging a two-week battle against the Israeli army.

United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan was at the centre of a diplomatic storm today after accusing Israel of deliberately bombing a UN observer post in southern Lebanon, killing at least two peacekeepers.

FIERCE fighting has been raging at the Lebanese border as Israeli troops moved to besiege the biggest town there — Bint Jbail, nicknamed the “capital of the resistance” due to its intense support of Hezbollah during Israel’s 1982-2000 occupation of the south.

Fierce fighting was raging at the border today as Israeli troops moved deeper into Lebanon to besiege the biggest town close to the border – Bint Jbail, nicknamed the “capital of the resistance.”

The Hezbollah representative in Iran struck a defiant tone today, warning that his militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israel until “no place” is safe for Israelis.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah tonight said that the group’s leadership remained intact, appearing an interview on Al-Jazeera a day after Israel claimed to have bombed a bunker where he may have been hiding.

Israeli warplanes dropped 23 tons of bombs on a bunker in south Beirut where the army believed senior Hezbollah leaders were hiding, a senior army official said today, but the guerrilla group denied the site was a bunker or that its leadership had been hurt.

A rift is emerging between the European Union and the United States over whether Israel should cease its relentless offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.

Israeli missiles struck Lebanon from north to south and in the Bekaa Valley near Syria, killing 35 people, including a family who had come from Canada to visit their home village.

Israel has hit hundreds of targets in Lebanon since last night, as part of its effort to force the release of two soldiers captured by Hezbollah guerrillas, a top Israeli general said today.

Military intelligence has arrested a ring of Lebanese and Palestinian terrorists who planned to assassinate the leader of the Hezbollah militant group, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

LEBANON President Emile Lahoud looks set to ask outgoing pro-Syrian prime minister Omar Karami to form a government, a step sure to anger the anti-Syrian opposition who pressured him to resign in the first place.