Lebanon asks Security Council to impose cease-fire

UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Reuters) Lebanon urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for a cease-fire and an end to Israeli attacks on its territory, rejecting Israel's insistence it was acting in self-defence.

The 15-nation council planned to meet in an emergency session today after Israel, responding to the capture of two of its soldiers by Hizbollah guerrillas, launched a wave of military strikes on Lebanon, prompting Hizbollah to unleash a steady rain of missiles on northern Israel that has killed two civilians and wounded 90.

''The Lebanese government calls upon the United Nations Security Council to issue a firm, comprehensive and immediate resolution to establish a cease-fire and to lift the siege on Lebanon in all its forms,'' Beirut's UN Mission said yesterday.

''The government calls for an end to Israel's aggressions, which have killed civilians and destroyed vital civilian and economic institutions,'' it said in a statement.

Israel told the United Nations on Wednesday it held Lebanon to blame for the capture of two of its soldiers by Hizbollah guerrillas, which it termed an act of war. Past Security Council resolutions have pressed Lebanon to disarm militias operating on its territory, and to extend its authority to the parts of southern Lebanon now under Hizbollah control.

Israel therefore reserved the right to ''exercise its right of self-defense when an armed attack is launched against a member of the United Nations,'' it said in a letter to the Security Council and to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In its statement, Beirut said it was ''not responsible for these events and does not endorse them.'' In Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered more intense strikes on Lebanon today after blockading Lebanese ports, bombing the Beirut airport and striking two military air bases yesterday.

Israeli airstrikes and shelling have killed at least 55 Lebanese civilians since the two soldiers were captured on Wednesday.

Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, asked about Friday's planned UN meeting by Britain's Sky television news, said he saw little the world body could do.

''The UN has already said Israel has fulfilled all the United Nations resolutions to the latest point, and the one who didn't do so was Lebanon,'' Peres said. ''So I don't see anything that the United Nations can do about it.'' REUTERS SRS RAI0554