Israeli jets strike Lebanon as thousands flee

The US is set to evacuate more than 2400 of its citizens. Picture / Reuters

Israeli warplanes struck Lebanon on Wednesday with thousands awaiting evacuation as the death toll mounted in a conflict that has entered its second week with no early end in sight.

Nine US military ships were set to evacuate more than 2400 US citizens by air and sea on Wednesday, the first big group of up to 8000 the Pentagon expects to bring out.

Britain said six ships were in the region to start moving its citizens, with around 5000 to be evacuated this week.

Other nations mustered boats and planes to reach citizens stranded by the bombing of Beirut's airport and dozens of roads and bridges in an Israeli campaign that began after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a border attack on July 12.

Israeli jets hit Shweifat, just south of the capital and the edge of its southern suburb. There was no immediate word on casualties, which have mounted as the conflict has dragged on and forced some 100,000 Lebanese to flee their homes.

Israeli forces also moved into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and clashed with Palestinian militants there, according to Palestinian witnesses.

Civilians on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border were angry about the bombardment but Israel and Hizbollah showed no willingness to stop the fighting, which has killed 235 people in Lebanon and 25 Israelis, or heed proposals for a new UN-backed stabilisation force.

Israelis, stunned by Hizbollah rocket attacks, said they wanted their army to smash the guerrilla group and most favoured killing its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a poll showed.

US President George W. Bush described Hizbollah as the root cause of the current conflict and said Syria, which supports the Shi'ite Muslim group, was trying to "get back into Lebanon" one year after ending its 29-year military presence.

Bush spoke to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah about the crisis in Lebanon, with both expressing concern about the humanitarian situation and agreeing to assist those displaced or in need.

While UN peace envoys held talks in Israel, the Israeli army was refusing to rule out a ground invasion, only six years after it ended a 22-year occupation of south Lebanon.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Hizbollah had coordinated the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers with Iran, enabling Tehran to divert attention from its nuclear programme.

Olmert said there was no time limit to Israel's offensive, and said there would be no negotiations with Hizbollah.

Lebanon's government, which wants an immediate ceasefire, said it had not received any clear proposals to end the assault.

World powers have said Hizbollah must first free the two soldiers and stop cross-border attacks. Israel also demands that Hizbollah disarm in line with UN Security Council resolutions.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for a bigger, more robust international force to stabilise southern Lebanon and buy time for the Lebanese government to disarm Hizbollah guerrillas.

Israel, bent on driving Hizbollah from the south, says it is too early to discuss such a force. Washington has queried how it could restrain the Islamist group.

"It is urgent that the international community acts to make a difference on the ground," Annan said in Brussels, suggesting a force that would operate differently from toothless UN peacekeepers who have patrolled south Lebanon since 1978.

- REUTERS