Lebanon fighting surges ahead of ceasefire

THE Israeli military and Hezbollah were trying last night to inflict as much damage as possible ahead of an expected ceasefire this morning.

Hezbollah fired more than 250 rockets into Israel yesterday, the fiercest attack against northern Israel since the fighting began more than a month ago, the Israeli army reported. One Israeli man was killed.

Israel’s cabinet approved a ceasefire, agreeing to silence the army’s guns in less than 24 hours. The Israeli military and Hezbollah both embarked on a last-minute barrage, trying to inflict as much damage as possible before the ceasefire began.

Israeli warplanes ranged across south Lebanon, rocketing south Beirut and other areas with 23 missiles that killed at least 15 people.

The 24-0 Israeli cabinet vote, with one abstention, came a day after the Lebanese government approved the agreement and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave his grudging consent. The truce was to take effect at 6am this morning Irish time.

But questions as to the truce’s durability quickly arose when the Lebanese cabinet cancelled a critical meeting that was supposed to discuss the deployment of 15,000 troops to southern Lebanon, a key part of the ceasefire deal.

Reports said the cabinet had been sharply divided over demands that Hezbollah surrender its weapons.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the ceasefire agreement would ensure that “Hezbollah won’t continue to exist as a state within a state”.

After a halt in fighting, some 15,000 Lebanese troops and an equal number of UN forces are to be deployed in south Lebanon and create a Hezbollah-free zone from the Israeli border to Lebanon’s Litani River, 18 miles away. Israel said it hopes Lebanese troops will start deploying quickly, within a week or two.

“When the Lebanese and multinational force enters, Israel will withdraw and not before,” Israeli minister Yaacov Edri said.

The Israeli cabinet session came as some 30,000 Israeli troops fought heavy battles with Hezbollah a day after 24 soldiers were killed in the highest Israeli toll of the month-long war.

As the vote took place, Israeli shells slammed into the hard-hit Dahiyeh suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold just south of Beirut.

On Saturday, 19 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli air raids.