Israel says it hit hundreds of Lebanon targets

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.

Maj Gen Udi Adam, the chief of Israel’s northern command, said Israel was targeting infrastructure in Lebanon that held rockets and other arsenals belong to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah guerrillas launched more than 80 rockets and mortars into Israel as well today.

“I imagine over time that we will be able to rid ourselves of this threat entirely,” he said.

He also said the army was not ruling out sending ground troops into Lebanon, but was not planning a massive call up of reserves.

He also did not rule out targeting Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. “All operations are legitimate to wipe out terror,” he said.

Israel has information that Lebanese guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.

Regev did not disclose the source of his information. Hezbollah guerrillas seized the soldiers yesterday in a cross-border raid. Israel has since attacked Lebanon by air and sea, and has sent in troops to look for the captured soldiers.

Israel’s Cabinet held an emergency meeting that decided to respond forcefully to Hezbollah’s cross-border raid yesterday when its guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers and demanded a prisoner exchange.

Israel said it had imposed a naval blockade of Lebanese ports – which Lebanese officials confirmed – and Israeli fighter bombers carried out their biggest offensive in Lebanon since Israel’s 1982 invasion.

Giving the rationale o Israel Radio, Israeli Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon said: “The government wants to change the rules of the game in Lebanon and make the Lebanese government understand that it is responsible for what happens in Lebanon.”

Israeli defence minister Amir Peretz said his forces would in future not allow Hezbollah guerrillas to occupy positions along the southern Lebanese border.

“We will not enable Hezbollah to return” to its positions near the border, Peretz said.

Peretz demanded that Lebanese army forces be deployed along the border. Lebanon has long refused to do this, saying that it is not in business of protecting Israel’s northern border.

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah offered to trade the two soldiers for Arab prisoners, and warned Israel that his guerrillas would fight if attacked.