Israel 'plans quick raids, not full invasion'

BEIRUT - The Israeli army plans to step up incursions into southern Lebanon but not launch a mass invasion in its war against Hizbollah, an Israeli military source said today.

Thousands of Lebanese civilians have fled north fearing Israel would invade and expand its 11-day-old bombardment of Lebanon which has killed 345 people, mostly civilians.

Israeli war planes overnight launched one of their heaviest raids yet on the town of al-Khiam, just north of the border, and destroyed five trucks in strikes in eastern Lebanon, witnesses said.

Israel on Friday ordered several thousand reserves to report for duty. The call-up came a day after Defence Minister Amir Peretz spoke of a possible land offensive. Israel wants to stop Hizbollah from firing rockets into its northern territory.

Hizbollah rockets, reaching as far as Haifa, have killed 15 civilians in Israel in the war. Nineteen soldiers have also been killed.

An Israeli military source said the army intended to step up pinpoint incursions into the south but not launch a mass invasion. "You should not expect a full-scale incursion into Lebanon," the source told Reuters.

"We are already inside Lebanon and troops will continue to operate there because it is the only way to act against Hizbollah bunkers there," the source said.

The war started when Hizbollah abducted two soldiers on July 12 in a raid into Israel.

Amid mounting world alarm at the war, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced a diplomatic drive but said the conflict's root causes had to be tackled before a truce.

Calling the abduction an "outrageous provocation", Rice said she would visit the Middle East next week and attend an Italian-hosted international conference in Rome on Wednesday in a bid to secure lasting peace.

The United States, Israel's main ally, has rebuffed Lebanon's appeals for an immediate UN-backed cease-fire, saying this would not last unless Hizbollah guerrillas, backed by Syria and Iran, were prevented from attacking the Jewish state.

Elite Israeli troops have been launching small-scale raids in Lebanon to try to stop Hizbollah rocket attacks. But Israel has been wary of launching a full-scale invasion, only six years after it ended a costly 22-year occupation of the south.

The Jewish state's military chief, Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, said Israeli forces had killed nearly 100 Hizbollah fighters in the offensive. The guerrilla group says only six of its fighters have been killed.

Lebanese families packed into cars and pickup trucks and clogged roads to the north after Israeli planes dropped leaflets on Friday warning residents of south Lebanon to flee for safety beyond the Litani river, about 20 km from the border.

An estimated 300,000 mostly Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese normally reside south of the Litani. There was no word on how many have already fled the bombing and fighting of the past few days. Air raids have wrecked many roads and bridges in the region.

Israel responded to humanitarian concerns about its blockade of Lebanon, saying it would ease humanitarian access.

UN relief agencies have called for safe passage to take vital medical and food supplies to tens of thousands who have fled their homes. The government estimates 500,000 have been displaced by the war.

Thousands of foreigners have been evacuated from Lebanon. Turkey received hundreds of Canadian evacuees on Friday, having offered to ease the strain on Cyprus which had warned it could not longer cope with the numbers arriving from Lebanon.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was involved in brokering a 2004 prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbollah, also plans a trip to the Middle East next week.

But a UN envoy, reporting to the Security Council after talks with Israeli officials, said the Jewish state would not negotiate with Hizbollah through third parties, as in the past, for the release of captured soldiers.

Israel has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28 to recover another soldier, seized by Palestinian militants.

In Gaza, Palestinian medics said Israeli shelling killed a Hamas militant and four civilians on Friday, as tanks and troops withdrew from a refugee camp after a three-day assault.

- REUTERS