Jets attack militant base in Lebanon

JERUSALEM - Israeli aircraft attacked a militant training base south of Beirut yesterday in response to rocket attacks on Israel.

An Army spokeswoman said the attack targeted a training base used by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. There was no immediate information on casualties or damage.

The attack came after three rockets were fired from Lebanon into the Israeli town of Kiryat Shemona.

"Israel has a right to defend its citizens. The Lebanese Government is responsible for not dismantling terror organisations," the spokesman said.

Yesterday, Israel dropped leaflets over northern Gaza telling residents "if you continue to stay in the area from which rockets are fired, you are putting your life in danger".

The PFLP, opposed to peace talks with Israel, is a secular, leftist Palestinian group which has launched attacks on the Jewish state in the past.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Palestinian factions to halt rocket fire and renew a truce that expires this year.

Violence has been growing since Israel completed its evacuation of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in September.

A major surge of fighting could also disrupt, or even delay, Palestinian parliamentary elections next month.

Khaled al-Batsh, a leader of Islamic Jihad, said he did not believe that there would be an extension to the "period of calm" that militants agreed to follow at a Cairo summit.

"When the time is up there will be a general position, but calm will most likely not be extended," he said.

- REUTERS