Israeli commandos have raided a Hezbollah stronghold deep in Lebanon, engaging in a fierce gun battle. The Lebanese government threatened to halt further troop deployments to protest what UN officials called a violation of the six-day-old ceasefire.

Hezbollah fighters battled Israeli commandos who launched a raid near the militants’ stronghold inside Lebanon early today, killing one soldier, in the first large-scale violation of the ceasefire.

Israel struck a Lebanese army base outside Beirut and flattened a house near the border, killing at least 10 people in a new wave of bombings.

UN negotiator and former Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen today said that diplomatic initiatives between Israel and Hezbollah had the potential to result in a ceasefire.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will send three veteran UN officials to the Middle East in a bid to defuse what he called a “major crisis” there, the United Nations said today.

The US, France and Britain challenged the rest of the UN Security Council to adopt a very tough resolution against Syria that would threaten sanctions if Damascus fails to co-operate fully with a UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Anti-Syrian Christian leader Michel Aoun, who returned from 14 years’ exile only five weeks ago, appeared poised to hand other anti-Syrian opposition groups a surprising defeat in Lebanese parliamentary elections, denying them the majority they had hoped to muster in their drive to end Syria’s political control.

Syria has promised to remove all its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon by April 30, the UN envoy said today after meeting with Syria’s president and foreign minister.

Syria promised the UN yesterday that it will withdraw all troops from Lebanon before parliamentary elections, but did not mention a pullout of its intelligence operatives, as demanded by the Security Council.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday demanded that Syria withdraw all its troops from Lebanon before Lebanese parliamentary elections in April and May, marking the first time he has set a specific timetable for Damascus.

A senior Lebanese army officer has said 4,000 Syrian soldiers – more than a quarter of those serving in Lebanon just a week ago – are back in Syria, but he said a complete withdrawal is nearly a month away at the earliest.

SYRIA has withdrawn nearly a third of its troops from Lebanon, a senior officer said yesterday.

Syrian troops will not withdraw completely from Lebanon until at least after an April 7 meeting between senior Syrian and Lebanese military officers to discuss their redeployment, Lebanon’s foreign minister said today.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav urged his country today to take up a Syrian offer to renew peace talks and rejected assertions by officials that the offer is not significant.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to resume peace talks with Israel “without conditions,” a top UN envoy said today.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged Palestinians and Israelis to work with the international community to make Yasser Arafat’s dream of two states living in peace a reality.

A security panel headed by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip early today after a wave of kidnappings that included a Palestinian police chief and four French citizens.

At least one person was killed and 21 others wounded when an explosion ripped through a Tel Aviv bus stop early today, police said.

The Israeli army carried out a sweeping raid against militants in the West Bank today, killing four people and destroying a building that was home to 60.

The Palestinian parliament today began debating what powers the new job of prime minister should hold, amid suspicions that Yasser Arafat is prepared to give up little of his.

The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories has resulted in a 70% poverty rate and one in two Palestinians being unemployed.

The United Nations’ special envoy to the Middle East has said that 75% of the Palestinian population is now unemployed because of a state of economic paralysis caused by 19 months of violence.

Palestinians were today threatening revenge amid world leaders’ condemnation of an Israeli missile attack which killed eight people, including top Islamic militants and two children in the bloodiest day in the region in nearly two months.

Palestinian officials complained to a US envoy today about Israeli restrictions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, while Palestinian students trying to force open a road to their university scuffled with Israeli soldiers.