Rice seeks deal on peacekeepers to end Lebanon war

Hizbollah accused Dr Rice of serving Israel. Picture / Reuters

JERUSALEM - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started talks in Israel overnight to seek a deal on an international force to end fighting in Lebanon, but Hizbollah said her trip would only serve Israeli interests.

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed more attacks on Israel's cities if it did not end an offensive launched after the guerrilla group captured two soldiers in a raid on July 12.

"Rice is returning to the region to try to impose her conditions on Lebanon again to serve her new Middle East project and to serve Israel," Nasrallah said in a televised address, as Rice made her second trip to Israel this week.

Rice, who dined with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday evening, said she hoped for agreement on the main conditions for a cease-fire to be outlined in a UN resolution that could be tabled as early as Tuesday.

"I expect the discussions to be difficult, but there will have to be give and take," Rice told reporters.

"I assume and have every reason to believe that leadership on both sides of this crisis would like to see it end."

At least 469 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in the conflict, and 51 Israelis have died.

In the latest fighting, an Israeli air strike killed a woman and six children in a house in the southern village of Nmeiriya, medics said. Another strike also wounded two Indian soldiers with the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

Israel dismissed a UN proposal for a three-day truce to aid civilians trapped by fighting, saying it was already allowing aid shipments through its blockade of Lebanon. It has allowed a UN envoy access to the military to coordinate aid.

Meanwhile, Israel's forces pulled out of the Hizbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil, just across the border, that was scene of some of the fiercest fighting in the 18-day conflict.

Rice welcomed an agreement on Thursday by Hizbollah cabinet members in Lebanon to seek an immediate cease-fire that would include the disarming of militias, and praised Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora for persuading Hizbollah to agree.

Lebanon's Siniora, whom Rice will meet during her stay in the Middle East, argues that the main issues to be resolved include Israel's occupation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area, claimed by Lebanon, and its detention of Lebanese prisoners.

In a softening of Israel's position that could help Rice steer the sides towards a cease-fire, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Israel would not demand the immediate disarming of Hizbollah, although it still wants it disarmed eventually.

Hizbollah fired more than 90 rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel on Saturday, lightly wounding about a dozen people, the army and medics said. They have launched more than 1500 rockets into Israel since the conflict started.

Rice's visit comes as the United States has faced mounting criticism for not calling for an immediate cease-fire and for giving Israel an apparent green light to continue its offensive.

US President George W. Bush said on Saturday his country would work to end the violence quickly to defeat the threat from Hizbollah and its main allies, Syria and Iran. Nasrallah said Iran and Syria were still standing alongside Lebanon.

"We must recognise that Lebanon is the latest flashpoint in a broader struggle between freedom and terror that is unfolding across the region," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Israeli air strikes cut Lebanon's main road to Damascus on Saturday to stop weapons supply routes to Hizbollah from Syria.

Israel said its forces had killed around 70 to 80 Hizbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon in recent days. Hizbollah says only 31 of its fighters have died in the war.

- REUTERS