Israeli jets pounded suspected Hezbollah positions across Lebanon yesterday, extending its air campaign a day after suffering its highest one-day casualty toll. An Israeli Cabinet minister said lack of agreement on a ceasefire gave Israel a green light to press deeper to wipe out the Islamic militant group.
The airstrikes also hit a Lebanese army base and a radio relay station and destroyed several roads. The series of raids in northern, eastern and southern Lebanon, which killed at least one person and wounded others, came as the Israeli government was to meet yesterday to decide whether to broaden the military offensive, now in its third week, against Hezbollah guerrillas.
On Wednesday, a high-level Middle East conference in Rome ended in disagreement, with most European leaders urging an immediate cease-fire, but the US willing to give Israel more time to punish the guerrilla group.
Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who is close to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said Israel interprets this as a green light to continue its offensive.
"We received yesterday at the Rome conference permission from the world ... to continue the operation, this war, until Hezbollah won't be located in Lebanon and until it is disarmed," he told Israel Army Radio. "Everyone understands that a victory for Hezbollah is a victory for world terror."
The call for greater firepower came as Israel suffered its heaviest casualty toll in a single battle in the 16-day campaign, with nine soldiers killed and 25 wounded in house-to-house fighting in Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Wednesday.
The crisis began July 12 when Hezbollah fighters staged a cross-border attack that led to the deaths of eight Israeli soldiers and left two captured.
Israeli army commanders have said troops would seize additional towns and villages in south Lebanon to force out Hezbollah gunmen.
Israeli warplanes struck a road in Rayak, a few kilometers from the Lebanese-Syrian border early yesterday, wounding two soldiers and a civilian, Lebanese officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make statements to the media.
intense bombardment
Israeli fighter jets also carried out more than 30 bombing runs in Iqlim al-Tuffah, a highland region where Hezbollah is believed to have offices and bases, the officials and witnesses said.
The airstrikes, which targeted mostly deserted houses allegedly belonging to Hezbollah activists, and roads linking villages in the region, caused a number of casualties, the officials said. Ambulances and civil defense crews were unable to reach the targeted areas because of intense bombardment, witnesses said.
A Lebanese policeman, Mo-hammed Abu Hamdan, was killed when an Israeli missile struck his car as he drove in the eastern city of Zahle, security officials said.
At least 423 other people have been killed in Lebanon -- including 376 civilians reported by the Health Ministry and security officials. The deaths of the soldiers on Wednesday brought to 51 the number of Israelis killed in the campaign, according to the military.
Israeli planes also attacked targets near the southern market town of Nabatiyeh, wounding at least three people.
And a missile hit a four-story building belonging to the Shiite Muslim Amal Movement in the southern port city of Tyre, a day after a strike in the city devastated an empty seven-story building where Hezbollah's top commander in the south has offices. The strike on Wednesday wounded 13 people, including six children, nearby. But a Hezbollah official in Tyre denied Israeli reports that the group's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, was killed.
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