Israel vows to continue offensive as thousands flee Lebanon war zone

AS thousands of civilians trapped for nearly three weeks in south Lebanon’s war zone streamed north yesterday by truck, car and on foot, Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert vowed there would be no ceasefire in the fight against Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the Syrian military to raise its readiness, pledging not to abandon support for Lebanese resistance against Israel.

“We are facing international circumstances and regional challenges that require caution, alert, readiness and preparedness,” Assad said.

“The barbaric war of annihilation the Israeli aggression is waging on our people in Lebanon and Palestine is increasing in ferocity,” Assad said in a written address on the 61st anniversary of the foundation of the Syria Arab Army.

Diplomats in Damascus say the Syrian army has been on alert since the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon began on July 12 after Hizbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border operation.

Mr Olmert yesterday said no ceasefire would be forthcoming in Israel’s 20-day battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

“Israel continues to fight,” he said. He spoke a day after Israeli air strikes levelled a building in the southern Lebanese town of Qana, killing at least 56 people, including women and children. The strike, the deadliest since the fighting began, sparked international anger.

Under US pressure, Israel then called a 48-hour halt to air strikes.

Mr Olmert said Israel had no choice but to begin its attacks on Hezbollah after the guerrillas crossed over the border on July 12, killed three soldiers and kidnapped two others.

He said he was sorry for the deaths of women and children at Qana.

He spoke after Israeli planes hit targets in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas blasted an Israeli tank and injured three Israeli soldiers, breaking a brief respite in 20 days of fighting. There were also reports Hezbollah struck an Israeli gunship, but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Before the fighting resumed, pick-up trucks and cars loaded with people streamed north as thousands of civilians trapped in south Lebanon’s war zone for three weeks took advantage of the brief lull to escape.

Israel pledged to end air strikes for 48-hours depending on “operational developments” in Lebanon. After Hezbollah guerrillas hit an Israeli tank near Taibeh with an anti-tank missile, Israel said it carried out air strikes to protect its ground troops.

In a second air strike around the port city of Tyre, Israel accidentally killed a Lebanese soldier when it hit a car it believed was carrying a senior Hezbollah official, the Israeli army said.

The Israeli army justified the action, saying the leader believed to have been in the car was a threat to Israel. Instead, the car was carrying the Lebanese army officer.

Fighting was heavy in the north-east corner of south Lebanon around Taibeh and other border villages.

Israeli artillery blasts — not covered under the air halt — shook the hills.

Hezbollah guerrillas in the area fired at the nearby Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona, their first since Israel’s suspension began.

No casualties were reported.

A Syrian-made bomb was detonated next to an Israeli army patrol road in the occupied Golan Heights, causing no casualties, an Israeli military source said.

Some UN and Red Cross aid convoys were forced to turn back from destinations in Lebanon because of continued fighting, though other trucks pressed on in an attempt to reach Qana, UN officials said.

Still, the suspension of the air campaign brought relative quiet to much of southern Lebanon.

The pause meant the first relative relief for thousands of Lebanese who have been hiding in their homes, in schools or hospitals in the dozens of villages that dot the mountainous south. While huge numbers had fled already, those who remained were mostly the old, the sick and those too afraid of intense Israeli bombardment to risk the drive.

Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz yesterday told parliament Israel would not agree to an immediate ceasefire and planned to expand its Lebanon operation.

Israel’s top ministers also were to discuss expanding the army’s ground operation at a meeting last night.

Prime Minister Olmert told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the weekend that Israel would need 10 to 14 more days to finish its offensive, and Justice Minister Haim Ramon told Israeli army radio yesterday he did not think the fighting was yet over.

“I’m convinced that we won’t finish this war until it’s clear that Hezbollah has no more abilities to attack Israel from south Lebanon. This is what we are striving for,” Ramon said.

Israeli forces have destroyed an estimated two thirds of Hezbollah’s long-range missile capabilities, a senior government official said yesterday.

Protests were held across the Middle East as people sought to express their anger at the Qana air strike.