Annan: Strike 'Apparently Deliberate'

(CBS/AP)  An Israeli bomb destroyed a U.N. observer post on the border in southern Lebanon Tuesday, killing two peacekeepers with two others feared dead under the rubble. U.N. chief Kofi Annan said Israel appeared to have struck the site deliberately.

Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman expressed his "deep regret" for the deaths and denied Israel hit the post intentionally.

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the hasty statement of the secretary-general, insinuating that Israel has deliberately targeted the U.N. post," he said, calling the assertions "premature and erroneous." The bomb made a direct hit on the building and shelter of the observer post in the town of Khiyam near the eastern end of the border with Israel, said Milos Struger, spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL.

Rescue workers were trying to clear the rubble, but Israeli firing "continued even during the rescue operation," said Struger.

The victims included observers from Austria, a Canada, China and Finland, U.N. and Lebanese military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information to the media.

The body of Chinese U.N. observer Du Zhaoyu was recovered and identified, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources within UNIFIL.

It was not immediately known which of the others was confirmed dead.

As reports of the attack emerged, Annan rushed out of a hotel in Rome following a dinner with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

"I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a U.N. Observer post in southern Lebanon," Annan said in a statement later.

Annan said in his statement that the post had been there for a long time and was marked clearly, and was hit despite assurances from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that U.N. positions would not be attacked.

"I call on the government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident and demand that any further attack on U.N. positions and personnel must stop," Annan said in the statement.

Gillerman said "Israel is carrying out a thorough inquiry into this tragic incident and will inform the U.N. of its results as soon as possible."

In the meantime, the envoy assured that "Israel remains committed to protecting the safety and security of U.N. personnel on the ground and is doing its utmost to guarantee that they be able to carry out their mission."

"U.N. blue helmets are in the crossfire and the deaths today are an indication of how difficult it will be to have an international military force on the border between Israel and Lebanon, whether it is a NATO force or a U.N. peacekeeping force," says CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk. "It is not the first time that U.N. forces have been hit by Israeli fire, intentional or not."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other key Mideast players gathered in Rome for a meeting Wednesday to discuss proposals for ending the fighting that has claimed more than 400 lives. Key issues were how to disarm Hezbollah and assemble an international peacekeeping force to enforce the peace along the Israel-Lebanon frontier.

"The major obstacle at the Rome conference, and for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's shuttle diplomacy, will be to create conditions that will convince all sides that a ceasefire is viable," said Falk, "and that will require a military force capable of ensuring a lasting peace."

Israeli commanders said they would not push deep into Lebanon but were determined to stop Hezbollah missiles that have continued despite Israel's punishing raids on Hezbollah targets.

Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsh told CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan that he didn't feel any political pressure to stop anytime soon.

"We have plenty of time, and I intend to use it. As long as it takes," he said.

A new volley of Hezbollah rockets hit northern Israel, killing a teenage girl, and Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, issued a taped television message saying guerrillas would now start firing rockets deeper into Israel.

Tuesday marked a month since the start of what is now a two-front war between Israel and Islamic militants. On June 25, an Israeli soldier was captured by Hamas militants in Gaza, prompting an Israeli offensive there. Two weeks into that flare-up, Hezbollah snatched the two other soldiers.

In that month, the crisis has spiraled far beyond anyone's imagining.

In other developments:

The U.S. State Department expressed concern Tuesday about an unknown number of Americans stranded in south Lebanon without safe passage to evacuation points in the capital and on the coast. CBS News correspondent Lee Cowan reports that the U.S. State Department hopes to get an evacuation ship to Tyre to pick up stranded Americans Wednesday morning. There are between 30 and 40 Americans about 1.5 miles north of the Israeli border that the State Department is going to try to get to Tyre in time for the evacuation. The last scheduled boatload of U.S. citizens is expected to leave Beirut Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Some 15,000 Americans have been evacuated from Lebanon since fighting began.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel has the stamina for "a long struggle" and is determined to defeat Hezbollah.

Germany's defense minister said a cease-fire must be in place before any international troops can be sent to Lebanon. Rice, in Israel on the second leg of a Middle East tour, maintained the Bush administration's position that a cease-fire must come with conditions that make an enduring peace.

A top Hamas official in Syria says Israeli soldiers held by Hamas and Hezbollah will only be released as part of a prisoner swap.

Democrats in Congress are upset about the joint meeting set for Wednesday for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, demanding that he first make clear that he condemns Hezbollah for its attacks on Israel, instead of just criticizing Israel for its attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, reports CBS News Capitol hill correspondent Bob Fuss.

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