LEBANON: Israel continues attacks against bridges and suspected Hizbollah strongholds around Beirut

Israel's army prepared on Friday (August 4) for a possible push deeper into southern Lebanon to drive out Hizbollah which threatened to launch rockets further into Israel if central Beirut is bombed. While world powers worked on a U.N. resolution to end the 24-day-old war, Israeli jets destroyed three bridges north of Beirut, cutting off the main coastal highway to Syria and tightening Israel's air and sea blockade. Israeli airstrikes have already closed the main Beirut to Damascus highway. At least one person was killed and eight wounded when the bridges were bombed, medics said. Some of the wounded were in a serious condition, "He is in a serious condition. He fell from a few meters. He has fractures in his spine. His condition will become more dangerous in the coming hours," Dr Sayeghm said about one man injured from the strikes on the bridges. Israeli air strikes on the south and east of the country and on Hizbollah's stronghold in Beirut's southern suburbs, areas which have seen the heaviest destruction, continued unabated. Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz ordered the army to prepare for the possible push north to the Litani river, some 20 km (13 miles) north of the border, security officials said. A ground offensive as far as the Litani would need the approval of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet, since it would mean going beyond a planned "security zone" in southern Lebanon. Political sources said Olmert has so far objected to sending soldiers as far the Litani and is not convinced it would halt Hizbollah rocket fire into Israel, one of Israel's main aims. Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to target Tel Aviv if Israel attacked central Beirut. Israeli television quoted a senior military source as saying Israel would destroy Lebanon's already severely damaged infrastructure if Nasrallah's threat was carried out. Hizbollah killed 12 Israelis on Thursday, Israel's deadliest day in the war so far. Israel said it had so far carved out a zone containing 20 villages 6 to 7 km (3.7 to 4.3 miles) from the border. Israel already has some 10,000 soldiers in southern Lebanon. Adding two brigades would take that to 12,000 troops. Hizbollah said it was battling soldiers who had tried to launch an incursion near Markaba, just inside Lebanon, after midnight. Israeli airstrikes hit Lebanon's main road to Damascus near the border with Syria and roads in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Strikes on the Maameltain, Halat and Madfoun bridges north of Beirut punched open craters spewing rubble and twisted metal and destroying several passing cars. Nasrallah offered to stop Hizbollah's rocket barrage if Israel ended attacks on civilian areas in Lebanon. But Israel's military could not stop Hizbollah rocket fire by force, he said. Hizbollah, which triggered the war by capturing two Israeli soldiers, has killed 68 Israelis, including 41 soldiers. It wants to swap the soldiers for prisoners held by Israel.

ITN Source | August 4, 2006

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