Over the last two days, there has been an increase in ground clashes as Israeli troops have moved about a mile or so inside Lebanon to demolish Hezbollah outposts and fortifications. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in fierce battles with Hezbollah guerrillas north of Avivim on Thursday, the Israeli army said. On Wednesday, two Israeli soldiers were killed in the same area, as Israel discovered a warren of storage rooms, bunkers and tunnels near Maroun al-Ras.
Hezbollah said it has lost three fighters, but the Israelis say scores of Hezbollah fighters have died. Israel also said two of its Apache helicopters collided near the Lebanese border, killing a pilot and injuring three crewmen.
All day today, the 10th day of the conflict, Israeli jets continued to drop bombs, hitting Beirut’s Shiite districts, the eastern Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon and striking the Mdeirej bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway four more times; it had already been bombed twice.
Five people were killed and 15 wounded in the bombings, according to Agence France-Presse. In all, more than 330 people have been killed by the Israeli air, sea and ground barrage of bombs and rockets throughout Lebanon.
Also today, a new wave of Hezbollah rockets hit Haifa and other towns in northern Israel. At least 10 people were wounded when one missile hit a Haifa apartment building.
Israel continued to warn residents of southern Lebanon to leave their homes if they are in areas of Hezbollah activity
As the Israeli defense minister, Amir Peretz, visited northern towns hit by scores of Hezbollah rockets on Thursday, he hinted at a broader ground operation. “We have no intention of occupying Lebanon, but we also have no intention of retreating from any military measures needed,” he said. “Hezbollah must not think that we would recoil from using all kinds of military measures against it.”
Mr. Peretz continued, “You can mark one thing down: Hezbollah flags will not hang over the fences of Israel.”
The Israeli assault is meant to break Hezbollah’s military capacity and decapitate its leadership. But its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, appeared on television late on Thursday in an interview with Al Jazeera, taunting the Israeli forces and vowing that he would release two abducted Israeli soldiers only in exchange for Lebanese prisoners held in Israel.
“Even the whole universe would not be able to secure the release of the two Israeli soldiers unless there are indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners,” he said. “All of Israel’s claims to have hit half of our missile potential and arsenal are nothing but erroneous words. The leadership of Hezbollah has not been touched.”
Lebanon’s prime minister, Fuad Siniora, who has appealed desperately for help from the international community, said that no settlement was in sight to end the violence. He accused the United States of giving Israel a green light to bomb Lebanon.
“The United States is allowing Israel to pursue its aggression,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Lebanon’s defense minister, Elias Murr, said on Thursday that the Lebanese Army — which has so far remained on the sidelines — would go into battle if Israel invaded. “The Lebanese army will resist and defend the country and prove that it is an army worthy of respect,” he said.
On Thursday in New York, Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the United Nations, called for an immediate ceasefire and spoke of the human suffering caused by the offensive, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of Lebanese from their homes.
He proposed that Hezbollah release the two soldiers, that attacks by both sides be halted and that an international peacekeeping force be deployed. And he condemned the Israeli operation as an “excessive use of force.”
Russia, which reduced parts of Chechnya to rubble in its fight against rebels there, also sharply criticized Israel: the Russian Foreign Ministry called Israel’s actions in Lebanon “far beyond the boundaries of an antiterrorist operation” and urged a cease-fire.
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