Israel orders more strikes, Hizbollah fires rockets

BEIRUT - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered more intense strikes on Lebanon today, ratcheting up retaliation against Hizbollah guerrillas following the capture of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.

The move came at a late-night meeting of security chiefs and followed Israel's blockading of Lebanese ports, the bombing of Beirut airport and strikes against two military airbases.

"The decision was made to intensify Israel's operations in Lebanon," Army Radio quoted political sources as saying after Olmert met with Israeli security chiefs.

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Israeli airstrikes and shelling have already killed at least 55 Lebanese civilians since the two soldiers were captured on Wednesday, while a steady barrage of Hizbollah rocket fire into northern Israel has killed two Israeli civilians and wounded 90.

Israeli aircraft struck the main highway linking Beirut with the Syrian capital, Damascus, earlier today, a Lebanese security source said. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Two Hizbollah missiles hit the Israeli port of Haifa, the country's third largest city, in a move Israel described as a "major escalation" since Haifa, home to around 250,000 people, lies more than 30 km from the Lebanese border.

No one was injured in the Haifa attacks. Hizbollah denied firing on Haifa. In total, Israel said Hizbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, fired more than 100 rockets at towns and villages in the north on Thursday, causing widespread panic and injuries.

New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised against all travel to Lebanon.

It said there was "extreme risk" to New Zealanders' safety because of the escalating tensions and New Zealanders in Lebanon should avoid travelling to the southern suburbs of Beirut and areas south of the capital.

The military offensive in Lebanon coincided with an major Israeli offensive into the Gaza Strip to retrieve a captured soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.

Israeli troops fired a tank shell at a vehicle in Gaza today, killing a Palestinian and wounding another, Palestinian medics said.

The threat of a larger-scale Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon to prevent the rocket fire gained currency after the Haifa strikes although the military remained tight-lipped.

"All options are available," army spokesman Captain Jacob Dallal said when asked about the possibility of an offensive. "Strategically speaking, if the third largest city in Israel is under attack, it's a big thing and a response can be expected."

In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Israel not to attack Syria, saying such action would be considered an assault on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response", state television reported.

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, speaking in Germany, urged Israel to exercise restraint but also demanded that Syria put pressure on Hizbollah to stop attacks on Israel.

But Israel's ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon told CNN Israel believed its offensive was now the right way to deal with Hizbollah.

The violence was the fiercest since 1996, when Israeli troops still occupied part of south Lebanon.

US President George W. Bush voiced concern about the fate of Lebanon's anti-Syrian government, but offered no direct criticism of the punishment Israel meted out.

"Israel has the right to defend herself," he said while on a visit to Germany.

The European Union and Russia criticised Israel's strikes in Lebanon as a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict.

Saudi Arabia, though, blamed "elements" inside Lebanon for the violence with Israel, in unusually frank language directed at Hizbollah and its Iranian backers.

Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said that Lebanon wanted an end to "this open-ended aggression" by Israel.

In New York, the UN Security Council set an urgent meeting at Lebanon's request.

The United States yesterday vetoed a council resolution put forward by Qatar on behalf of Arab states that called on Israel to immediately end its military incursion in Gaza.

The bombing of Beirut's international airport forced flights to divert to Cyprus. Later, Israeli aircraft targeted fuel tanks at the airport, setting at least one tank ablaze.

Planes dropped leaflets in a Beirut suburb, urging residents to stay away from Hizbollah offices, witnesses said, a move that raised the possibility that Hizbollah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, could be targeted.

Israeli naval vessels enforcing the siege turned away three ships carrying fuel to Beirut, a shipping source said.

Israel has rejected Hizbollah demands that it release Arab prisoners in exchange for the captive soldiers, named by the Israeli army as Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, but says it fears the soldiers could be spirited to Iran.

Iran said Israel was "talking absurdities".

- REUTERS