Israel Delays Push But Keeps Hitting
Israel will hold back a new ground offensive in Lebanon until the weekend to give cease-fire efforts another chance, senior government officials said Thursday, a day after Israel's Security Cabinet approved a major expansion of the month-long war.
But prospects for a quick cease-fire resolution by the U.N. Security Council were uncertain, with the United States and France still divided over a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
France wants Israel to pull out once hostilities end, while the United States backs Israel's insistence on staying in southern Lebanon until a strong international force is deployed, which could take weeks or months.
In fighting Thursday, Hezbollah claimed it destroyed 13 Israel tanks in south Lebanon. The Israeli military declined comment. On Wednesday, 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in Lebanon, the deadliest day for Israeli soldiers in the war.
Israeli forces seized the key town of Marjayoun in south Lebanon, but are meeting fierce resistance, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.
Israeli missiles, meanwhile, hit Beirut proper for the first time, damaging a historic lighthouse Thursday. Warplanes dropped leaflets over northern Lebanon warning trucks to stay off the coastal road linking Lebanon to Syria. The army said the aim is stop the transport of weapons to Hezbollah.
Israeli jets also dropped leaflets over downtown Beirut on Thursday, threatening a "painful and strong" response to Hezbollah rocket attacks and warning residents of three southern suburbs to evacuate immediately.
"The Israeli Defense Forces intend to expand their operations in Beirut," the single-page leaflet read.
In Israel, Hezbollah rockets hit an Arab village Thursday, killing two people, including an infant, and wounding two others, medics said.
In other developments:
The move into Marjayoun — a mostly Christian area about five miles from the Israeli border — gives Israel an important foothold. The town was used as the command center for the Israeli army and its allied Lebanese militia during an 18-year southern Lebanon occupation that ended in 2000. The high ground around Marjayoun, including the village of Blatt, overlook the Litani River valley, one of the sites for the relentless Hezbollah rocket assault on northern Israel.
The deeper push into Lebanon was approved by Israel's Security Cabinet. During the tense six-hour meeting, ministers received constant updates on the rising Israeli military casualties in Lebanon.
A senior government official said Thursday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has decided to hold off on the offensive until the weekend. The campaign could begin earlier if Hezbollah launches a major attack on Israel, the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the issue with reporters.
Cabinet minister Rafi Eitan confirmed the government's decision to wait.
"There are diplomatic considerations," he told Israel Radio, when asked about a planned delay. "There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in the area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders."
The government's running of the war was coming under growing criticism at home.
The army has failed to make a dent in Hezbollah's ability to fire rockets at Israel — the guerrillas fired 170 on Wednesday, for a war total of more than 3,500 — and critics said pushing deeper into Lebanon would not stop such attacks since longer-range rockets can still reach Israel.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported an angry exchange between Defense Minister Amir Peretz and his predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, in the Security Cabinet meeting. When Mofaz criticized the planned new offensive, Peretz reportedly shot back: "Where were you when Hezbollah built up this array (of weapons)?"
Under the army plan, Israeli forces would move to the Litani River, some 20 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. At the moment, more than 10,000 troops are engaged in house-to-house battles against Hezbollah fighters in a strip less than half that size.
Even in the current war zone, Israeli troops have had trouble taking control of towns and villages. Security officials say the guerrillas' bunkers, well equipped with food, weapons and electricity, are a reason for Hezbollah's stamina. During lulls in the fighting, gunmen emerge and set up new ambushes for troops.
On Thursday, troops also moved to a nearby hill overlooking the Litani River Valley, witnesses said. Heavy battles were reported in south Lebanese villages across from Israel's Galilee panhandle, hard hit by rockets.
Israel hopes an expanded offensive will force Hezbollah guerrillas out of their strongholds across southern Lebanon. The offensive is expected to last a month and eliminate 70 percent to 80 percent of Hezbollah's short-range rocket launchers, but not its long-range launchers, senior military officials said.