World

Israel Launches New Ground Offensive

August 11, 2006 / 5:08 PM EDT / CBS/AP

In a dramatic game of brinksmanship, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered an expanded ground war in Lebanon on Friday because of dissatisfaction over an emerging U.N. cease-fire deal, but then signaled through his aides that he might be ready to accept an amended version.

Olmert's zig-zag signaled Israel's dilemma after a month of inconclusive fighting.

The draft Security Council resolution circulated Friday would authorize the deployment of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support Lebanon's deployment to the region "as Israel withdraws." The Security Council was expected to vote later Friday on the draft, which was crafted by the United States and France.

An Israeli source close to the government said there was a "good chance" Israel would accept the proposal.

Israeli officials say Olmert was angry about last minute changes in the text of the resolution draft which would weaken the mandate of an international force, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger.

"You'll find that the mandate for the force is very robust," Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said later in the day.

Israeli troops have been ordered to push to the Litani River, 18 miles from the Israel border, the area from which most of the rockets are launched, and expel Hezbollah.

The army had warned Olmert that the U.N. plan would allow Hezbollah to escape intact, reports Berger, so Foreign Minister Tzippe Livni called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and said the cease-fire deal was off.

Rice then telephoned Olmert to ask him if there were any room left for diplomacy to solve the crisis, said a source close to the Israeli government.

Olmert has indicated he'd be willing to call off the offensive if Israel's basic demands are met, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the private conversation.

In other developments:

An Israeli drone fired missiles into a convoy of refugees fleeing attacks in the southern town of Marjayoun, killing and wounding as many as 15 people, witnesses and security officials said. The convoy, consisting of more than 100 civilian vehicles and those carrying Lebanese soldiers and police from the area around Marjayoun, was hit near Chtaura on the west side of the Bekaa Valley.

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday singled out Israel for a second time this summer for its attacks on Arabs, this time ordering a commission of inquiry to go to Lebanon to investigate alleged abuses. By a 27-11 vote, the council approved a resolution proposed by Islamic countries.

Israeli planes dropped leaflets over west Beirut on Friday, telling Hezbollah members the group's leader was "cheating" them. The papers fluttered down mid-morning over an area along the capital city's Mediterranean coast, stretching from the commercial port to the upscale Raouche neighborhood of west Beirut.

A poll shows that public support for the war has dropped from 73 percent to 64 percent. The poll in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper also showed 37 percent of the 500 people questioned believed Israel would cripple Hezbollah, compared with 40 percent in a previous survey.

Israel won't comment on a New York Times report that it has asked the U.S. to speed delivery of anti-personnel rockets with cluster munitions, reports Berger. The rockets, which carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets, would be used against Hezbollah, after Israeli artillery and warplanes have failed to stop rocket attacks. The Times says some U.S. officials oppose the sale because the weapon would increase civilian casualties.

(CBS)

Meanwhile, Israeli jets and artillery pounded Hezbollah positions earlier Friday in an attempt to gain command of strategic high ground and disrupt guerrilla rocket attacks across the border. In far north Lebanon, Israeli jets blasted a key bridge to Syria, killing at least 12 people.

The conflict for the first time touched the entire length of Lebanon — from skirmishes on the Israeli border in the south to the northern border about 100 miles away — and sent the message that no place was safe from the widening Israeli attacks.

But Hezbollah delivered a similar statement to northern Israel with another barrage of more than 40 rockets by midafternoon, Israeli police said. Rescue officials said seven people were hurt.

Hezbollah television reported Friday that guerrillas destroyed an Israeli gunboat off the coast of Tyre, killing or wounding the crew of 12. The Israeli military said it was not aware of a strike on any of its vessels, which have been enforcing a blockade of the Lebanese coast since fighting began 30 days ago.

Israel has delayed a major new ground offensive to give diplomacy some room. But officials warned that they would unleash the fresh infantry forces if the talks fail.

Lebanon has called for Israeli troops to start pulling out once hostilities end and Beirut sends 15,000 troops of its own to the south, while Israel has insisted on staying in southern Lebanon until a robust international force is deployed, which could take weeks or months.

"We've closed some of the areas of disagreement with the French," Bolton said.

The most severe fighting continued around Marjayoun, an important hub just north of Israel's Galilee panhandle that juts into Lebanon. An Associated Press reporter briefly entered the embattled city and witnessed intense Israeli bombardment of dug-in Hezbollah fighters.

The city, which is mostly Christian, is crucial because it gives Israeli gunners a view of the Litani River Valley and other areas used as launching grounds for Hezbollah rockets. Israeli tanks rolled into Marjayoun on Thursday after coming under sustained Hezbollah ambushes along the way.

Lebanese Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat told The Associated Press Thursday the Lebanese soldiers and police garrisoned in the town were taken into custody.

But an Israel military spokeswoman said the people left in the city — soldiers, police and refugees — were only advised to remain there for their own safety.

"Nobody has been taken prisoner," she said, declining to be identified because military rules did not allow her to make public comments.

U.N. peacekeepers arrived Friday to evacuate about 350 Lebanese soldiers and police Marjayoun, but they delayed any attempt to leave because of the fighting.

"Nasrallah is cheating you and hiding from you the big losses in the ranks of Hezbollah members," the leaflets dropped on Beirut read, referring to Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. "The following is a list of some names of those killed, whom Nasrallah has abandoned and denied their deaths." The leaflet then listed some 90 names of men it said were Hezbollah members killed in fighting with Israeli troops.

It was the second straight day leaflets fell from the skies over Beirut proper. Documents dropped in the downtown area on Thursday threatened a "painful and strong" response to Hezbollah rocket attacks and warned residents of three southern suburbs to evacuate immediately.

By taking Marjayoun, the Israeli army was closer to Beirut than at any time since the fighting began July 12 after a cross-border raid in which Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three. On Thursday, an Israeli helicopter gunship struck a century-old lighthouse in central Beirut in an apparent attempt to knock out a TV antenna.

Powerful explosions also resounded across Beirut early Friday, and local media reports said Israeli jets were pounding Hezbollah strongholds in the southern Dahieh suburb. Reports said a bridge was also hit in Akkar province, 60 miles north of Beirut. There was no immediate word of casualties.

At the same time, Israeli forces were still locked in relentless combat with guerrillas along the border. Hezbollah reported Israeli casualties near the southern village of Rachaf, but gave no further details. Israel did not immediately release information.

In northern Lebanon, Israel jets attacked the Abboudiyeh border crossing into Syria, killing at least 12 people, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Now, only one official border crossing to Syria is open for those trying to flee Lebanon.

More than 800 people in Lebanon and Israel have died since fighting erupted — 727 on the Lebanese side and 122 on the Israeli side.