Israel warns of a 'painful' expansion

IBL EL-SAQI, LEBANON: Israel took control of the strategic southern hub of Marjayoun on Thursday and warned that its fight against Hezbollah could grow wider and more severe if diplomacy fails. Israeli leaders have authorised a major new ground offensive going deeper into Lebanon but have held off to give international negotiators more time.

With clear signals indicating that Israel already was gearing up for a major push northward, Israeli warplanes blanketed downtown Beirut with leaflets threatening a ‘painful and strong’ response to Hezbollah attacks.

Defence minister Amir Peretz also said the military would use “all of the tools” to cripple the Islamic guerrillas if UN efforts toward a cease-fire pact collapse.

Top UN humanitarian official Jan Egeland, meanwhile, criticised Israel and Hezbollah for hindering the delivery of aid to civilians trapped in southern Lebanon, saying it was a ‘disgrace’ they had failed to allow convoys to get through.

Egeland said a plan worked out with Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah to funnel aid through humanitarian corridors has not worked the way each side had promised.

“The Hezbollah and the Israelis could give us access in a heartbeat,” Egeland said at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva. “Then we could help 120,000 people in southern Lebanon. I don’t think that any military advantage has been gained in these last days or will be gained in the next few hours.”

At least 715 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting erupted July 12. — including 628 civilians confirmed dead by the health ministry, 29 Lebanese soldiers and at least 58 Hezbollah guerrillas. The Lebanese government’s Higher Relief Council put the number higher — at 973.

Authorities in Israel said 120 Israelis have been killed, including 82 soldiers and 38 civilians.
The seizure of the mostly Christian city of Marjayoun and nearby areas overnight appeared to be an attempt to consolidate bases in southern Lebanon before any possible push northward. It gives Israel an important foothold for any deeper drives into the country.

Marjayoun — about five miles from the Israeli border — was used as the command centre for the Israeli army and its allied Lebanese militia during an 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon that ended in ’00.

The high ground around Marjayoun, including the village of Blatt, overlook the Litani River valley, one of the staging sites for the relentless Hezbollah rocket assault on northern Israel. Israel suffered its worst one-day military losses on Tuesday, with 15 soldiers killed, most in other areas of the south away from the Marjayoun area.

Taking command of Marjayoun was not considered a key battlefield victory since the city gives little support to Hezbollah. But reaching the site required passing through Hezbollah country, the scene of fierce fighting. Witnesses said they saw hundreds of Israeli foot soldiers moving into the town Thursday afternoon.

Hezbollah claimed it destroyed 13 Israeli tanks. Israel did not immediately give a tally of its losses. Israeli gunners used their new vantage points as payback: pounding Hezbollah-led areas such as the plain around the nearby town of Khiam, which has been used as a rocket site for the militants.

Still, Hezbollah was defiant. It fired 110 rockets into northern Israel by mid-afternoon, including one that hit Haifa, Israeli police said. An Arab Israeli mother and her young daughter were killed in the village of Deir al-Assad. Lebanese officials reported at least four civilian deaths Thursday.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned in a television address that Israeli Arabs in Haifa should flee for their own safety and threatened more strikes on the port city, already hit repeatedly by Hezbollah rockets.

In Ibl el-Saqi, a village about two miles east of Marjayoun, the mayor said nearly all residents had fled to the north.

“They all left this morning. There was very intense shelling last night,” Riad Abou Samra said. But it seemed fewer and fewer areas of Lebanon were safe from the threat of Israeli attacks, including the relatively untouched heart of Beirut.

The leaflets that fluttered down over the capital Thursday said “the Israeli Defense Forces intend to expand their operations in Beirut.” They said the decision came after statements from “the leader of the gang” — an apparent reference to Nasrallah’s television address.

Israel also extended its warnings to areas north of Beirut. Leaflets said trucks “of any kind” would face attack after 8 p.m. along the northern coast road to Syria. A round-the-clock road curfew has been in force across southern Lebanon since early Tuesday.

Israeli warplanes pounded a coastal highway junction connecting three major southern cities — Sidon, Tyre and Nabatiyeh. The junction already had been nearly cut off in strikes on July 12 — the first day of fighting — which spared only a single lane. It was not clear if the road was completely severed in Thursday’s hits.

The strike at the historic lighthouse, built early last century during French colonial rule, was the first in central Beirut since a warning Aug. 3 by Nasrallah that such a move would bring retaliation against Tel Aviv.

The capture of Marjayoun came just hours before a senior Israeli official, Rafi Eitan, announced the delay of an expansion of the ground offensive to give U.N. diplomats time for a cease-fire deal. Lebanon and its Arab allies demand Israel withdraw its forces as part of any cease-fire.

The planned offensive would thrust toward the Litani River valley, 18 miles north of the border — and would be aimed at crippling Hezbollah before a possible cease-fire. The offensive is expected to last a month and eliminate 70 to 80 percent of Hezbollah’s short-range rocket launchers, but not its long-range launchers, senior military officials said.

However, Trade Minister Eli Yishai, who abstained in Wednesday’s vote, said the assessment is too optimistic. “I think it will take a lot longer,” he said. Israel is waiting to see whether Arab and Western diplomats can find a solution to end the monthlong conflict.

“There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in the area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders,” Eitan told Israel Radio.

The U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey Feltman, met three times Thursday with Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, whose aides reported no progress on negotiations to find a cease-fire.

Relief agencies have sent aid to some Lebanese areas caught up in Israeli-Hezbollah fighting, but progress has been slow, U.N. officials said in pleading for more access.

The international Red Cross said it has received a personal commitment from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that “everything possible will be done to facilitate access for our teams on the ground.”