Israel agreed on Tuesday to allow aid airlifts to Lebanon but said it was determined to pursue a war against Hezbollah that key ally the United States has sanctioned despite a heavy civilian death toll.
After meeting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said both agreed that disarming Hezbollah and deploying an international force in its place in southern Lebanon were key to resolving the two-week-old crisis.
Israel would hold a ”security strip” there until the force deployed, Defence Minister Amir Peretz told reporters.
Peretz said Israel would control the zone by firing at anyone who entered. He did not say how wide it would be. Israeli government sources estimated the width at 3km to 4km.
Israel believed a force of up to 20 000 peacekeepers was needed and that it could be deployed within two weeks of approval by Western powers, senior Israeli officials said.
The estimate would be nearly double the size being discussed by European powers.
The war will take centre stage at an international conference in Rome on Wednesday where Arab and some European nations are expected to call for an immediate ceasefire over Washington’s objections. Rice will attend the meeting.
On the battlefield, Israeli troops and tanks fought Hezbollah inside the guerrilla stronghold town of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon. Israel said it killed up to 30 fighters.
Israeli warplanes bombarded Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold and launched 100 strikes across south Lebanon. One attack killed a family of seven, Lebanese security sources said.
Hezbollah rockets killed a 15-year-old girl in an Arab Israeli town in the Galilee, medics said.
A total of 411 people in Lebanon and 42 Israelis have been killed in the conflict.
Rice, who spelled out Washington’s terms for a truce to Lebanese leaders during a visit to bomb-battered Beirut on Monday, said it was time for a ”new Middle East”.
”A durable solution will be one that strengthens the forces of peace and democracy in the region,” Rice said alongside Olmert.
Airlifts to Beirut
Amid mounting international concern at civilian casualties and the plight of people displaced in Lebanon, Olmert said Israel would allow aid airlifts to reach the country.
Israel imposed an air and sea blockade and bombed Beirut airport runways after Hezbollah killed eight of its soldiers and abducted two others in a July 12 cross-border raid.
Lebanon says Israel’s bombardment has displaced a fifth of its population. Most of its dead are civilians.
”The prime minister said Israel will allow, with advance coordination, for planes carrying humanitarian aid to land at Beirut airport,” Olmert’s office said.
United Nations humanitarian agencies said they were still largely blocked from bringing relief supplies into Lebanon and from getting injured and very sick people to hospitals.
Olmert said Israel had to press on with its offensive as Hezbollah rockets rained on northern Israel.
But Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah said the operations could ignite a wider war in the Middle East.
He has also ordered the transfer of $1-billion to Lebanon’s central bank to help it support an economy battered by the Israeli military offensive, state television said on Tuesday.
Al-Ikhbariya channel did not say whether the money was a loan or a grant. King Abdullah ordered a $500-million donation earlier on Tuesday to rebuild Lebanon.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the main objective of the Rome meeting would be to secure a ceasefire, despite Washington and Israel’s belief it can only lay the groundwork.
Rice has made clear she is not seeking a quick ceasefire and that any solution should address the root causes of the conflict — for which Washington and Israel blame Hezbollah and its backers in Iran and Syria.
Israel’s army, which has also waged a military campaign in Gaza since June 28 to recover a soldier seized by Palestinian militants, believed it may have a week to keep pounding Hezbollah before a deal was reached, security sources said.
The heaviest ground battles have been taking place around Bint Jbeil, 4km inside Lebanon.
The army said while Israeli forces had entered Bint Jbeil, they had yet to take complete control of the town.
Israeli forces seized another stronghold closer to the border, the village of Maroun al-Ras, last week.
Sticking points
One of the key sticking points for a ceasefire in Lebanon is the sequence of events for a deal.
Many Lebanese politicians want a ceasefire first. Israel wants Hezbollah to leave the border area immediately and free the captured soldiers without conditions.
But ground raids and air strikes have failed to stop Hezbollah firing about 1 200 rockets into northern Israeli towns and cities, where they have killed 18 civilians so far.
Israel says it will accept an international force to dislodge Hezbollah guerrillas from the border. Israel would hold a ”security strip” there until the force deployed, Defence Minister Amir Peretz said.
The Jewish state’s Lebanon offensive has coincided with its push into the Gaza Strip to try to recover the soldier captured by Palestinian militants and halt rocket fire. Israeli forces have killed at least 121 Palestinians in the month since then. — Reuters