Hezbollah pledged on Saturday to deny the United States and Israel any political gains from the war in Lebanon as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew to Jerusalem to discuss ways to end the 18-day-old conflict.
Israel rejected as unnecessary a United Nations plea for a truce to aid civilians trapped by fighting.
At least 462 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Lebanon in the conflict. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed.
In an interview with Reuters, Hezbollah’s deputy chief Naim Kassem demanded an immediate halt to ”Israeli aggression”.
Asked how Hezbollah viewed US demands for its guerrillas to disarm and make way for an international force in south Lebanon, Kassem said: ”America and Israel have no right to get a result from their defeat. There is no [military] victory for America and Israel for them to make political gains.”
Pressed on possible deployment of such a force, he said Hezbollah had decided not to talk about this in public.
Air strike
An Israeli air strike on a house in Lebanon on Saturday killed a woman and six children, Lebanese medical sources said.
The strike took place in the village of Nmeiriya in southern Lebanon. The sources said the woman was the mother of five of the children. The other victim was the child of neighbours.
Rice, who was flying to Jerusalem from Malaysia, was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to discuss the outlines of a UN Security Council resolution.
”She will be able to tell us exactly what kind of international force has to be sent here and what kind of resolution has to be passed by the UN,” Israeli government spokesperson Avi Pazner said.
Rice, who will meet Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora later in her Middle East mission, said she expected her talks to be tough. ”There has to be give and take,” she added.
Neither side showed much willingness for compromise.
No safe access
While Israel has let aid shipments through its blockade of Lebanon, international relief agencies say they have been unable to get Israel to guarantee safe passage to civilians in southern areas hardest hit by Israeli bombing aimed at Hezbollah.
France, which has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, said it ”deeply regrets” Israel’s rejection of Egeland’s idea. French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said he would press Israel to change its mind.
Hezbollah’s Kassem reiterated the group’s demand for a halt to Israel’s onslaught on Lebanon, begun after guerrillas captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.
”It is natural that we demand it is ended unconditionally and that all the displaced people return to their villages and towns,” he said in written answers to questions.
Washington has pledged $30-million to help Lebanon but America’s attitude to the war has angered many Lebanese.
”They send the Israelis smart bombs and they send us blankets. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t let this ship dock here. I would dump this stuff in the sea,” said a Lebanese soldier watching US relief goods being unloaded in Beirut.
A US military catamaran had brought blankets, tarpaulins and medical kits for some of the 800 000 war-displaced people.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has invited countries willing to join an international force in Lebanon to meet in New York on Monday to begin planning, even though its mandate has yet to be set by the Security Council.
Major powers say the force cannot deploy before a ceasefire or operate without the consent of Lebanon, Israel and Hezbollah.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out any immediate German participation in the force, saying the German military was already stretched in other operations abroad.
Bush has blamed Hezbollah and its main allies Syria and Iran for the conflict in Lebanon. The Shi’ite group says it is fighting a US-Israeli plan for hegemony in the Middle East.
Lebanon’s Siniora argues that the main problems include Israel’s occupation of the disputed Shebaa Farms area, claimed by Lebanon, and its detention of Lebanese prisoners.
The Lebanon war has overshadowed the conflict in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is waging a month-old offensive to recover a soldier captured by militants and halt Palestinian rocket fire.
Israeli aircraft bombed a suspected Hamas arms factory and border tunnel in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Troops entered a northern area to look for explosives and tunnels, the army said.
At least 150 Palestinians, around half of them gunmen, have been killed in the offensive. — Reuters