Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon

(CBS/AP)  Israeli warplanes fired missiles at dozens of targets across southern Lebanon overnight Friday, including buildings that were reduced to rubble and a Hezbollah base where long-range rockets were stored, the military said.

Israeli officials say that base was the center responsible for launching the rockets that have terrorized Haifa day after day, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

The Israeli army also says ground forces are continuing to tighten their grip on the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbail, where there is fierce resistance from an estimate 100 armed guerrillas, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger on the border. Although reservists have been called up, the reinforcements have not yet arrived.

Meanwhile, a cruise ship chartered by the U.S. was set to leave Beirut on Friday in the last scheduled departure of Americans fleeing war-torn Lebanon, a day after the U.S. reactivated its evacuation operation.

In other developments:

In Malaysia, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she will return to the Middle East to meet with Israeli officials to try to bring an end to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, which has entered its third week. Rice didn't say when she would return, reports Alfonsi.

A number of nations were pressing for a United Nations resolution that will call for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, including France, the European Union, and Arab countries. British Prime Minister Tony Blair was headed to Washington where he would discuss a U.N. resolution with President Bush. He's under pressure at home to also endorse an immediate cease-fire.

Israeli troops withdrew from northern Gaza early Friday after a bloody two-day sweep that killed 29 Palestinians, the deadliest violence since Israel's incursion began more than a month ago.

Iran's foreign ministry on Friday denied allegations that Tehran has provided military support to Hezbollah in its fight against Israel, a day after President Bush sharply criticized Iran's role in the bloody fighting. "Our support has been spiritual. If we had military support, we would announce it. ... We don't have any hidden business," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said on state-run television.

Israeli defense forces said aircraft hit a total of 130 targets in Lebanon on Thursday and early Friday, including a Hezbollah base in the Bekaa Valley, where long-range rockets were stored, and 57 Hezbollah structures, six missile launching sites and six communication facilities.

Israeli jets fired missiles at a three-story building near the southern Lebanon market town of Nabatiyeh, destroying the building and killing a Jordanian man who was hit by shrapnel in a nearby home, Lebanese security officials.

The building housed a construction company believed to be owned by a Hezbollah activist, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with the media. The strike also wounded four children nearby, they said.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »