No Cease-Fire For Israel

Israel, Hezbollah Intensify Attacks; U.S. Blocks U.N. Resolution On Gaza

(CBS/AP)  Israel widened its offensive on Lebanon Friday, with fighter bombers blasting the Beirut airport for a second day, in addition to bombing residential buildings in the southern suburbs of the capital, fuel storage tanks at a power plant, and the main highway to Syria.

Police say three people were killed and 55 others were wounded by Friday's airstrikes. Wednesday and Thursday, 45 Lebanese and two Kuwaitis were killed, and 103 others were wounded in Lebanon. On the Israeli side, two civilians and eight soldiers were killed.

Beirut airport officials say one of their three runways was hit by an Israeli missile in Friday's assault.

Hezbollah's al-Manar TV and other local stations said the jets had badly damaged two bridges and a road intersection in nearby Ghobeiri. Other news reports said a playground where Hezbollah leaders hold rallies was also targeted. Hezbollah TV said several people were injured.

Israeli officials had warned that south Beirut, a densely populated Shiite neighborhood where Hezbollah has its political headquarters, could be targeted. Leaflets dropped in the evening told people to stay away from Hezbollah offices.

At least one Katyusha rocket fired by Lebanese guerillas hit Haifa, Israel's third largest city, 18 miles from the border, causing no injuries, Israeli authorities said. The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Daniel Ayalon, called the attack "a major, major escalation."

Hezbollah — which had threatened earlier to target Haifa — denies launching the attack.

Four dozen civilians have died in the violence following Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers.

Israel holds Lebanon responsible for Hezbollah's snatching of the two soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26. The Lebanese government insists it had no prior knowledge of the move and did not condone it — and even withdrew its ambassador to the U.S. after he made comments seemingly in support of the guerrillas.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has his office and residence in the district of Haret Hreik in south Beirut. Hezbollah's Shura Council, its decision-making body, and the TV station are also located in that area, a section heavily guarded by Hezbollah.

The targeted area lies between the Lebanese capital and the international airport, which was twice hit by Israeli warplanes on Thursday.

One Israeli plane fired a missile at a fuel storage tank for the power station at Jiye on the Mediterranean coast in central Lebanon, just north of the port city of Sidon, witnesses said.

The attack started a fire in the area, about 20 miles south of Beirut, but the power station itself was not hit.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, telling reporters that it is important for Israel to exercise restraint, demanded that Syria pressure Hezbollah to stop the attacks on Israel.

Israel believes it is already exercising restraint. "Despite the dramatic pictures we are seeing on our television screens, the Israeli command insists it is not going full throttle in Lebanon and does not intend to," reports CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon. "The objective, Israeli officers say, is to weaken Hezbollah on the ground in south Lebanon, and to pave the way for the government in Beirut to send the Lebanese army down to take its place."

"Some of the pictures we do see," Simon continues, "illustrate the Israeli strategy - the bombing of the Beirut airport, the destruction of bridges. The Israelis want to cut off the supply routes to Syria. There is no Ho Chi Minh trail [the key supply route for enemy fighters in the Vietnam War] in this part of the world and if the air routes and the roads are closed, the Israelis say they will be able to isolate Hezbollah and destroy as many rocket launchers, garrisons and fighting units as possible."

The Israeli command is speaking of an operation that will last somewhere between one and two weeks. "The government of Lebanon, the United Nations and other powers may call for a ceasefire but the Israelis will not accept a ceasefire, officers say, until it has achieved its military objectives," Simon adds. "The Israelis say they hope that they will be able to do this without calling up the reserves and without a major incursion into Lebanon by ground forces."

Israel has hit hundreds of targets in Lebanon, including airports, and army bases to put pressure on the government and force Hezbollah to free two Israeli soldiers the guerrillas captured Wednesday.