Israeli Soldiers Killed: Tel Aviv Says 10; Hezbollah Claims 35
‘Pakistan Times’ Monitoring Desk

BEIRUT (Lebanon): Amid large-scale exodus mostly of foreigners from the volatile soils of Lebanon staying intact—at least ten Israeli soldiers were killed with almost 25 injured in fierce clashes with Hezbollah on Wednesday.

Update reports say that eight troops died near the town of Bint Jbeil, the biggest loss of life in a single incident so far during Israel's toxic onslaught on the neighbouring Lebanon, which was set off by Tel Aviv—almost two weeks ago.

As the situation in Lebanon continues to aggravate—an attempt by UN-led talks in Rome—ended with no agreement to urge an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

The talks were overshadowed by a global protest—after an Israeli missile killed four UN observers on Tuesday.

The Israelis were killed early on Wednesday morning as Israeli forces tried to take control of Bint Jbeil, a strategically located town near the border between Lebanon and Israel.

The Israeli army confirmed the deaths of its nine soldiers late on Wednesday evening.

Israel contends that the town is a Hezbollah stronghold—“used by the group as a launching ground—for the barrages of rockets fired daily into northern Israel.

Reports say that several soldiers were killed when the Israeli infantry were ambushed near the town shortly before dawn.

More were killed during a rescue operation, which was followed by an intense five-hour firefight.

Later, another Israeli soldier was killed in the border village of Maroun al-Ras, which Israel moved into over the weekend after several days of fighting.

Hezbollah's Digit

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has claimed killing 35 Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon, Arabic TV reported.

According to the television, Hezbollah has claimed of killing at least 35 troops the other day in clashes with Israeli forces, while Israel confirmed nine casualties among its army ranks in Bint Jebil.

A Hezbollah statement said "heavy exchanges are ongoing between the heroic mujahedeen (fighters) of the Islamic Resistance and the Israeli enemy forces which are trying to advance from Tallet Masoud" on the southwestern outskirts of Bint Jbeil.

"There are also heavy exchanges around Aitarun, Marun Al-Ras and Bint Jbeil," it said.

Massive Explosion

In the southern city of Tyre, a massive explosion destroyed a six-storey building where a local Hezbollah leader was believed to have an apartment.

At least six people were injured, although the building was empty at the time.
Correspondents say Israel is facing stronger resistance from Hezbollah than it had, initially anticipated.

A senior Israel army general said he expected the fighting would continue for "several more weeks".

More than 450 Lebanese and nearly 60 Israelis have died in violence since July-12.
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Yet another story says that Hezbollah fired more than 150 rockets into Israel, injuring 35.

Ten lorries loaded with food and medical supplies arrived in the southern town of Tyre from the capital, Beirut.

More than 300 people - mainly US and Australian citizens - who had been caught in the fighting in southern Lebanon were due to leave from Tyre on a Canadian ferry this evening.

UN Deaths

Details have emerged about the deaths of four unarmed UN observers after an Israeli air strike hit a UN post in south Lebanon on Tuesday.

UN staff had contacted Israeli troops 10 times to ask them to stop firing before a precision missile landed on the building, an initial UN report into the incident said.

Each time the UN contacted Israeli forces, they were assured the firing would stop but it did not happen so, the report said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has expressed "deep regrets" over the deaths.

Israel is conducting an investigation into the incident and has rejected accusations made by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that the targeting of the UN position was "apparently deliberate".

White House spokesman Tony Snow said; "there was no reason to suggest the bombing was deliberate".

At the same time, the UN Security Council has decided to meet to discuss the incident.

No Consensus on Cease-fire

Meanwhile, a report from Rome says that top U.S. and European officials agreed Wednesday on the need for urgent action to halt the fighting in Lebanon and on the creation of a multinational force to keep the peace. But the two sides had starkly divergent views of what that means.

Most Europeans want Israel to stop its offensive against Hezbollah now — which would leave Hezbollah battered but defiant. The United States wants to give Israel more time to pound the militia into submission as part of the wider war on terror.

The foreign ministers and other senior officials from 15 nations, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives from the European Union and the World Bank, agreed in Rome on a declaration that expressed "deep concern" for the high number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, where government officials say hundreds of people have been killed.

Deep differences in an approach to the crisis, however, were abundantly clear.
In the presence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema alluded to the discord in post-conference comments.

He said many participants appealed for an immediate and unconditional truce "to reach, with utmost urgency, a cease-fire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities."

Rice, for her part, deflected pressure to lean on Israel to end its 2-week-old offensive, insisting that any cease-fire must be "sustainable" and there could be "no return to the status quo ante."

Rice on Scenario

Later, Rice briefed reporters, saying she told the conference: "The fields of the Middle East are littered with broken cease-fires. ... And every time there is a broken cease-fire, people die, there is destruction and there is misery."

She added that Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora issued an impassioned appeal for peace.

At the conference, Saniora had difficultly containing his disappointment, saying the conference made "some progress" but pleading with world leaders to keep working toward a cease-fire.

Saniora said the Israeli violence has brought his country, still rebuilding from its 1975-1990 civil war, "to its knees."

The Western-leaning moderate asked Israel to enter a peace process with all its Arab neighbors — striking a markedly different tone from many previous Lebanese leaders.

The Rome conference did clinch a consensus on establishing a new multinational force for southern Lebanon — one far tougher than the existing, three-decade-old UNIFIL operation which has lacked a mandate to prevent hostilities.

"What we agreed upon is that there should be an international force under a U.N. mandate that will have a strong and robust capability to help bring about peace, to help provide the ability for humanitarian efforts to go forward and to bring an end to the violence," Rice told reporters.

"We all committed to dedicated and urgent action to try to bring about an end to violence that would be sustainable" and leave the Lebanese government in full control of its territory, she said.

She also pointed a finger at Iran and Syria, which she accused of stoking the violence. Rice said she expected both countries not to undermine any agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon and welcomed Annan's offer to use his office "to try to make sure that Syria and Iran act responsibly."

Italian Premier Romano Prodi put a positive spin on the conference, saying; "what could be achieved was achieved."

Prodi insisted Washington wasn't fully isolated with its insistence that a cease-fire should accompany a durable peace, including disarming of the Hezbollah militias.

He said the United States received support from Britain and acceptance from Germany that an immediate truce wasn't in the works.

Ultimately, Washington's position seemed sustainable largely because the others — despite shock at the scale of destruction and hundreds of civilians killed — largely supported the goal of disarming Hezbollah and extending the control of the Lebanese government to the south, which the militia has in effect controlled for years.

D'Alema urged Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers whose capture, as he said; "helped ignite the latest hostilities".

"It's a gesture that could be done while asking Israel to make the same step, but it could be a way to bring the end of hostilities closer," D'Alema told Italian state TV Wednesday evening.

Prodi said the force must be "sizable" and drawn from a number of countries.He pledged that Italy would commit troops if it has a U.N. mandate.

Israel, which did not attend, said it expected those at the Rome conference to follow up and take action to support Lebanon and turn it into a force capable of disarming Hezbollah.

"Israel is forced to continue to defend its citizens, because of the failure to implement these resolutions so far," said a statement released by Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Israeli officials have expressed support in principle for the deployment of an international force, recognizing that; "the Lebanese government could not likely subdue Hezbollah without assistance."

Rice said the force's mandate would be discussed over the next several days. "We also have asked that those meetings be held urgently so that force can be put together."

She said she did not anticipate American combat troops being used in the force.

In Brussels, EU officials said a meeting of European foreign ministers would be held next Tuesday to discuss the violence.

Annan said the emerging force would help Lebanon assert its authority and implement existing U.N. resolutions, which would ultimately leave Hezbollah disarmed.●