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.

In a major expansion of its ground offensive, Israel decided to send troops deeper into Lebanon, up to the Litani River some 18 miles from the Israeli border, to clear out Hezbollah fighters and hold the territory until a multi-national force is deployed there, senior officials said today.

The Israeli army will move deeper into southern Lebanon and hold on to that territory for several weeks, until a multinational force can deploy there, senior Israeli officials said today.

THE humanitarian situation in Lebanon is deteriorating rapidly as the country becomes more isolated because of damage in continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations and Red Cross said yesterday.

Warplanes resumed strikes on targets across Lebanon today as Israel warned hundreds of thousands of people to flee the south “immediately”, preparing for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

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.