Israel jets blast Lebanon after Hizbollah rockets

LEBANON: Israeli aircraft blasted Lebanon on Monday killing 17 people after Hizbollah rockets struck deeper into Israel than ever before, with no diplomatic initiative in sight to end the fighting.

The latest wave destroyed two army posts on the northern Lebanese coast, killing nine Lebanese soldiers, and damaging the homes of Hizbollah officials in the east of the country, killing five people in over 45 strikes on the sixth day of violence.

Three more people died in strikes south of Beirut. The raids also targeted infrastructure installations, petrol stations and factories, security sources said.

Leaders of the Group of Eight world powers meeting in Russia said on Sunday Israel had a right to self-defence, putting the onus on Hizbollah to end its attacks and release two Israeli soldiers it captured on Wednesday.

In a statement from their summit in Russia, the big-power leaders urged Israel to exercise "utmost restraint" in its offensive in Lebanon but blamed the crisis squarely on "extremist elements", putting the onus on Hizbollah to stop it.

The carefully worded statement said an end to Israeli military operations and withdrawal of forces from Gaza were other conditions needed to "lay the foundation for a more permanent solution".

But it echoed support for Israel's right to self-defence voiced by the United States, the Jewish state's main backer, and made no reference to criticism by the European Union that Israel's bombing of Lebanon was excessive.

"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos," said the statement hammered out by the leaders of the world's richest nations.

French President Jacques Chirac undercut the well-crafted G8 unity, telling reporters leaders had "expressed extreme reservations about the disproportionate character of the Israeli reactions". But there was no mention of this in the G8 text and U.S. officials dismissed Chirac's comment.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, the summit host, had accused Israel on Saturday of pursuing "other, wider goals" but later said compromise had prevailed.

U.N. and EU envoys appealed for the release of the soldiers during visits to Beirut to try to ease the conflict.

The crisis has escalated day by day with Hizbollah rocket attacks killing eight people in the Israeli city of Haifa on Sunday, the Islamist group's deadliest hit on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Hizbollah's attack would have far-reaching consequences for Lebanon, while the Lebanese guerrilla group threatened more.

Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the attack on Haifa, Israel's third-biggest city, was retaliation for its killing of civilians and promised more "surprises".

"We are just at the beginning," he said. Israel's army later said rockets fired by Hizbollah guerrillas struck a town 50 km (33 miles) south of the border. Israel's military campaign in Lebanon has killed a total 162 people, all but 13 of them civilians.

Canada said seven of its nationals had been killed in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, not eight as it previously thought. The Israeli army said that it had warned residents of the village to clear out of the area and that Hizbollah was responsible for any civilian deaths.

France, the United States, Britain and a host of other nations scrambled to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon. Foreigners have fled in thousands of cars to neighbouring Syria since Thursday.

Israel's bombing campaign, its most destructive assault on Lebanon since a 1982 invasion to expel Palestinian guerrillas, has drawn only a mild plea for restraint from the United States which blames Hizbollah and its allies, Syria and Iran.

"Our message to Israel is defend yourself but be mindful of the consequences, so we are urging restraint," U.S. President George W. Bush said at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. A total of 24 Israelis have been killed in the fighting since Wednesday, including 12 civilians hit in rocket attacks.

Lebanon said Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi had relayed Israeli conditions for a ceasefire. A government statement quoted Prime Minister Fouad Siniora as saying Israel had demanded the return of the two soldiers and a Hizbollah pullback to behind the Litani river, 20 km (12 miles) north of Israel.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, speaking after talks with Siniora, appealed for "those who have the possibility of influence" to press for an end to the violence and for the release of the two Israelis.

Hizbollah said it had fired "Raad (Thunder) 2 and Raad 3" rockets at Haifa. A senior political source said Israel's army chief, Dan Halutz, had told a cabinet meeting that "some of the missiles were probably produced by Syria".

Beirut, Monday Reuters