Fighting Rages at Lebanon-Israel Border

Fighting Rages at Lebanon-Israel Border
Jul 24 11:20 AM US/Eastern

By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press Writers

SIDON, Lebanon

Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into Lebanon on Monday in heavy fighting and captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, while two aid convoys carrying food, generators and other badly needed supplies left Beirut for two southern cities.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut to launch diplomatic efforts aimed at ending 13 days of warfare. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora told her his government is hoping to "put an end to the war being inflicted on Lebanon."

Saniora has pleaded with Washington to press Israel to call a cease- fire in bombardment that has demolished Lebanon's infrastructure and killed hundreds. President Bush has opposed an immediate cease-fire, saying the root cause of the conflict must be resolved.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in remarks published Monday the priority is for a cease-fire and he was open to discussing ideas on ending the crisis.

Fierce fighting raged at the border as Israeli troops moved deeper into Lebanon to besiege the biggest town close to the frontier _ Bint Jbail, nicknamed the "capital of the resistance" due to its intense support of Hezbollah during Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of the south. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded.

Bint Jbail holds strong symbolism for Hezbollah. Signs in the city tout its nickname, earned for its vehement backing of the guerrillas even while Israeli troops held the south. A day after Israel ended its occupation in 2000, Nasrallah went straight to Bint Jbail for his first celebration rally.

Much of the town's population of 200,000 is believed to have fled, but many remain. A Red Cross doctor who visited Sunday, Dr. Hassan Nasreddine, said he saw families crowded into schools, mosques and other buildings.

Following an intense artillery barrage, Israeli troops took control of a hilltop in Bint Jbail, but the rest of the town was held by Hezbollah guerrillas, military officials said.

An Israeli helicopter crashed in northern Israel near the border after hitting an electrical wire while making an emergency landing. Israel said there were two "casualties" but did not say if anyone survived. Al-Arabiya reported two Israelis were killed in the crash.

Hezbollah said it caused Israeli casualties in hits on five tanks moving on the road to Bint Jbail and around Maroun al-Ras, a hilltop village closer to the border that Israeli ground forces seized in heavy weekend fighting.

Israel said its troops captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, the first it had taken in the Lebanon fighting. Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman said the two prisoners are being held in Israel "with the aim of interrogating them."

Hezbollah continued its barrage of missile attacks on northern Israel, firing more than 40 rockets and slightly wounding 13.

At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters, according to security officials. At least 600,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, according to the WHO _ with one estimate by Lebanon's finance minister putting the number at 750,000, nearly 20 percent of the population.

Israel's death toll stands at 37, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 20 soldiers killed in the fighting.

Officials were trying to speed the delivery of aid along bomb- shattered roads to the south where they're needed most _ although Israel has not defined a safe route to the region. Tens of thousands have fled the war zone, packing into the southern port city of Sidon and other refuges.

Two convoys carrying generators for hospitals, food, tarpaulins and hygiene kits were heading from Beirut to Tyre and the southern city of Marjayoun, said Hisham Hassan, ICRC spokesman in Lebanon.

Aid was starting to move into Beirut's port after Israel opened it for humanitarian ships. An Italian warship brought food, medicine, tents, blankets, water, electrical generators and ambulances. A ferry carrying supplies from France also arrived.

U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland appealed for $150 million in humanitarian aid to help Lebanon through the next three months to pay for food, health care, water and sanitation, adding that 500,000 to 800,000 people have been affected by the fighting.

Egeland said he was asking the Israelis for safe passage for aid ships to enter the northern port of Tripoli and the southern port of Tyre. So far, Israel has loosened its sea blockade only for Beirut.

Rice's unannounced visit to Lebanon aimed to show support for the embattled, Western-backed government and to tackle what the United States and Israel believe to be the key to bringing peace _ ending Hezbollah's domination along the Israeli border.

Her mission is the first U.S. effort on the ground to try to resolve the crisis that began July 12 with Israel's onslaught on Lebanon sparked by Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. Rice flew by helicopter from Cyprus to Beirut, then traveled under heavy guard in a motorcade to Saniora's office.

Rice praised Saniora's "courage and steadfastness," and he kissed her on both cheeks.

The White House has said an international force may be needed to help the Lebanese army move into the south, a move the Beirut government has long refused, wary of confronting the guerrillas' power there and of tearing apart the country.

Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said. Israel signaled a policy shift, saying it would accept an international force _ preferably from NATO _ to ensure the peace in southern Lebanon.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he hoped to give details of a cease-fire plan in the next few days, adding that violence "has to stop on both sides. And it is not going to stop on both sides unless a plan is in place to make it stop, and that is what we are working on."

In Tehran, Hezbollah representative in Iran warned that his militant group plans to widen its attacks on Israelis until "there will be no place they are safe." Hossein Safiadeen said there would be "a new Middle East in the way of Hezbollah and Islam, not in the way of Rice and Israel."

En route to the region, Rice discussed the possibility of working with Syria on a solution. The Bush administration has blamed Syria, along with Iran, for stoking the recent violence by encouraging Hezbollah to attack northern Israel.

"The problem isn't that people haven't talked to the Syrians. It's that the Syrians haven't acted," she said. "It's not as if we don't have diplomatic relations. We do."

Rice has tried to walk delicately between supporting the Lebanese government while also not dictating to its ally Israel how it should handle its own security. Her posture has frustrated numerous allies.

"We all want to urgently end the fighting. We have absolutely the same goal," Rice said. But she added that if the violence ends only to restart within weeks, "then all of the carnage that Hezbollah launched by its illegal activities _ abducting the soldiers and then launching rocket attacks _ we will have gotten nothing from that."

More foreigners fled Lebanon by sea from Beirut. A Greek ferry commissioned by European countries arrived in Tyre and took on hundreds of stranded foreigners.

A group of 300 Americans and 100 other Europeans were believed trapped in villages south of the city, and it was not known if they would make it to the ship before it leaves in the evening, said Erik Rattat, a German official involved in the operation.

Some 11,700 Americans have fled Lebanon, the State Department said. U.S. Consul William Gill said most Americans who wanted to leave had done so by Sunday.