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Hizbollah offers stiff resistance to Israel

Atul Aneja

The campaign is to weaken militia permanently, says Tel Aviv

PHOTO: AP

FOR SAFER SHORES: A soldier carries a baby on board a Landing Craft Utility in Beirut on Thursday.

DUBAI: Skirmishes between Israeli land troops and fighters belonging to the Lebanese militant group, Hizbollah, continued for the third consecutive day on Thursday amid heavy Israeli bombardment that was now covering most parts of Lebanon.

Israeli troops encountered stiff resistance from Hizbollah fighters on Thursday as they crossed into Lebanon to destroy tunnels and weapon caches. In a statement, Hizbollah said its fighters had foiled a fresh Israeli bid to infiltrate.

It said that during the skirmish, two Israeli tanks were destroyed as they attempted to enter the Lebanese border village of Maroun al-Ras. The Israeli army acknowledged that three of its soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes with Hizbollah on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Hizbollah guerillas killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded nine in clashes at the border town of Naqoura. Hizbollah said that one of its members was killed. Israel has refused to rule out a possible full-scale invasion of Lebanon.

It warned civilians in south Lebanon on Wednesday to evacuate the region. Analysts read the announcement as the prelude to a full-scale attack.

Israeli aircraft bombed at least 80 locations early on Thursday. The spiralling violence has already displaced 500,000 persons and triggered an exodus of foreign nationals from the country. The humanitarian crisis that the conflict has caused has reinforced calls for a ceasefire.

In an interview with French Radio, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said truce was necessary to end what he called was a "massacre" being perpetrated by the Israeli forces. "Israel is bombing everything, even little streets, even ambulances, even lorries which are taking the food supplies," Mr. Lahoud said. The United Nations' emergency relief co-coordinator, Jan Egeland, said that unless a ceasefire was enforced, Lebanon was heading for a "catastrophe". With no end to the fighting in sight, foreign nationals are leaving Lebanon in droves and heading by ships to Cyprus.

Some Arab commentators have apprehended that the Israeli aerial bombardment was likely to intensify once the departure of foreigners was complete.

Some Israeli officials acknowledged that the country was engaged in a campaign to weaken Hizbollah permanently.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was set to meet the 15-member Security Council in order to find ways to enforce a ceasefire.

A U.N. team, led by Mr. Annan's political adviser, Vijay Nambiar, which is just back from a West Asia tour, will brief the Council about its findings.

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