Thirteen Israeli soldiers were reported killed in fierce fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon on Wednesday while United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told world diplomats in Rome that the 15-day-old war must end.
Al Jazeera television said 13 soldiers had been killed in clashes in the southern town of Bint Jbeil, which Israel calls a Hezbollah stronghold, 4km inside Lebanon.
Hezbollah sources said guerrillas had foiled Israeli efforts to evacuate casualties from Bint Jbeil. ”Our men can hear the screams of their wounded calling for help,” one source said.
If confirmed, the toll would be the Israeli army’s worst loss in a single day since it launched an offensive against Hezbollah two weeks ago. It was its highest toll in one incident in Lebanon in more than two decades. Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush in a West Bank refugee camp in April 2002.
In the Gaza Strip, scene of another Israeli offensive, Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians, including seven militants and a three-year-old girl, in fighting across the territory.
Israel has killed 133 Palestinians in a month-long campaign to recover a captured soldier and stop rocket fire from Gaza.
Its war against Hezbollah has killed at least 418 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians. At least 42 Israelis have also died. The battles occurred as foreign ministers, including United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, met in Rome to discuss how to end the conflict and bring humanitarian aid to Lebanon.
France said it would present to the conference the ”first outlines” of a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon, followed by negotiations.
”Once there is a political agreement, then a multinational force will be able to be mobilised. France could participate,” French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told France Info radio, adding that the force should have a UN mandate.
Annan said he wanted the Rome meeting to urge the Security Council to call for an immediate ceasefire — an idea so far resisted by Washington, which wants a ”durable solution” first.
”I call on Israel to end its bombardments, blockades and ground operations,” Annan said. ”I call on Hezbollah to stop its deliberate targeting of Israeli population centres.”
Hezbollah vowed not to accept any ”humiliating” truce terms and to take its rocket strikes deeper into Israel. Hours later, more missiles hit Haifa, wounding several people, police said.
Israel and Syria, Hezbollah’s main ally along with Iran, have not been invited to the Rome conference.
Damage Limitation
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier strove to limit diplomatic damage from the killing of four UN observers in an air strike in Lebanon on Tuesday, telling Annan he was sorry at the deaths, but voicing shock at the UN chief’s suggestion the attack was deliberate.
Annan had demanded Israel probe the ”apparently deliberate targeting” of the UN post in the village of Khiam.
China condemned the air raid, in which a Chinese observer was killed. The others were from Finland, Austria and Canada.
Finland, speaking for the European Union presidency, called ”for an immediate and full inquiry into this event”.
UN officials said the air strike flattened the building housing the observers and diplomats in Jerusalem said preliminary UN assessments suggested Israel had used precision-guided munitions.
Israeli bombing has forced an estimated 750 000 to flee their homes. Many are still trapped in war zones.
The first UN aid convoy left Beirut for the southern port city of Tyre. The 10-truck convoy was carrying 90 tons of supplies, enough to feed 50 000 people for three months.
”This is a small convoy. This is a litmus test for the security controls in place,” said UN spokesperson Khaled Mansour.
A Jordanian military plane landed at Beirut International airport to evacuate badly wounded people from among the 2 000 hurt in Lebanon so far. It was the first jet to land at the airport since Israeli planes bombed runways on July 13.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told the Rome meeting his country would sue Israel for compensation for the ”barbaric destruction” it has inflicted.
”Israel cannot go on indefinitely disregarding international law,” he declared. Israel, with apparent US approval, has said it will press on with its offensive. It also said it plans to set up a ”security strip” in Lebanon until international forces deploy.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whose group ignited the war by capturing two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 raid into Israel, rejected US ceasefire conditions.
Olmert said he wanted the war to end as soon as possible, but only after Israel had achieved its goals, a parliamentary official said. Olmert declined to rule out an eventual prisoner exchange with Hizbollah, he said. — Reuters