Israel says Hizbollah smuggling weapons from Syria

JERUSALEM, July 18 (Reuters) Israel's army today said the Lebanese guerrilla group Hizbollah was smuggling weapons from Syria but added it did not regard Syria as a target for attack.

''In the last few days, the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon has continued,'' Major-General Gadi Eisenkot of the Israeli army command told a news conference.

''We don't see Syria or the Lebanese army as a target but at the same time we see the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Lebanon to be used in attacks against Israeli civilians.'' Eisenkot said several trucks carrying weapons that had entered Lebanon from Syria had been destroyed by Israeli air craft on Lebanese territory.

The Israeli army has said it was a Syrian rocket that killed eight Israelis in the northern city of Haifa on Sunday. Hizbollah claimed responsibility for that attack.

''The (army) is using enormous force against Hizbollah and we have hurt it...but the organisation has many more rockets,'' Eisenkot said.

''They are still capable of firing rockets at Israel.'' Reuters PKS DB2304