Hezbollah Rejects Cease-Fire Draft
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday that the U.S.-French draft cease-fire plan was "unfair and unjust."
"It has given Israel more than it wanted and more than it was looking for," he said in a speech televised on all local and regional television networks, which were his first comments since the draft U.N. resolution was unveiled on Sunday.
In a major shift in the Hezbollah position, Nasrallah also said the militant organization was solidly behind a Lebanese government plan to deploy 15,000 soldiers in south Lebanon once a cease-fire is reached and Israel pulls out its forces.
Meanwhile, Israel's Security Cabinet voted Wednesday to broaden the ground offensive in Lebanon, with key ministers arguing that the military must deal more blows to Hezbollah and score quick battlefield victories before a Mideast cease-fire is imposed.
Just hours later, a column of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles was seen crossing into southern Lebanon from the Israeli town of Metulla, invading under covering artillery fire and air strikes.
In other developments:
"In the past we used to oppose or not agree on deployment of the army at the borders ... because we were concerned about the army. ... We agree on deployment of the army, but do not hide our fear for it," Nasrallah said.
"The army could be destroyed within a few days," he said.
Nasrallah also warned all Israeli Arabs to leave the port city of Haifa so the guerrilla organization could step up attacks without fear of shedding the blood of fellow Muslims.
"I have a special message to the Arabs of Haifa, to your martyrs and to your wounded. I call you to leave this city. I hope you do this. ... Please leave so we don't shed your blood, which is our blood."
The cleric also rejected a proposed international peacekeeping force for the region.
"This (the Lebanese army deployment) is the better and more convenient alternative than deployment of international troops. We don't know whose orders they will be taking," he said.
The Israeli cabinet told the military to hold off on the new offensive for two or three days to allow the U.N. Security Council to continue its debate for a cease-fire resolution, according to one of the ministers in the meeting.
But Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said earlier Wednesday that no progress had been made to end four weeks of fighting and he does not expect United Nations action in the next two days.
Nasrallah also urged the Lebanese government against succumbing to what he termed U.S. pressure to drop its opposition to the plan currently under consideration at the United Nations.
"I call out against American pressure," Nasrallah said. "I call on the (Lebanese) government for continued steadfastness."
He said the guerrillas would not falter.
"We will keep fighting to the last shot," he said.
More than 10,000 Israeli soldiers have been fighting several hundred Hezbollah guerrillas in a four-mile stretch north of the border, but have faced fierce resistance.
Israeli soldiers returning from the front say that Hezbollah members fight hard, are well-organized and well dug-in, reports CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey. "The Israelis are up against an enemy like they haven't fought for a long time."
In attacks Wednesday, Israel's military struck Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, killing at least two people and wounding five, officials said. In the eastern Bekaa Valley five people were killed and two feared dead in an Israeli raid.
Israeli air strikes leveled a two-story building in Mashghara early Wednesday, trapping seven people from the same family under debris, security officials said. Five bodies were pulled out and the remaining two relatives were feared dead, officials said.
The family's sole survivor was the 80-year-old father, Ahmed Ibrahim Sader, who suffered serious wounds, they said.
Israelis interviewed by CBS News almost all say how badly they feel for Lebanese civilians, reports Pizzey, but they blame Hezbollah for the casualties.
Israeli warplanes Wednesday dropped leaflets over the southern port city of Tyre again, and over Beirut proper for the first time. The identical flyers criticized Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, saying he was "playing with fire" and that the Lebanese people were "paying the price."
Diplomatic efforts were moving slowly. Saniora told reporters there were contacts on several fronts to end the violence but "there is nothing new so far."
Asked if he expects the Security Council to issue a resolution on Wednesday, he said "I don't expect a resolution will be issued today or tomorrow." He was speaking after meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State David Welch.