3 Indians among 49 civilians killed in Lebanon

Beirut, July 19: Israel unleashed fierce air strikes on Lebanon today, killing 49 civilians, including three Indians and a Hizbollah fighter, as boats and buses left Beirut laden with thousands of foreigners fleeing the eight-day-old conflict.

Israeli troops crossed the border to raid Hizbollah posts and Al Arabiya television said two Israeli soldiers had been killed and two wounded in clashes with the Shi'ite guerrillas.

Israeli medics said earlier two Israeli soldiers had been wounded in the fighting. The army had no immediate comment.

Three Indian workers were killed in an air strike on a glass factory in the eastern Bekaa Valley, medical sources said.

Lebanese security sources said Israeli tanks and a bulldozer had crossed the border near Alma al-Shaab, a few km from the coast, before pulling back a few hours later. They said the other incursion took place near Yaroun village further east.

Despite international diplomatic efforts, there was no sign Israel or its Lebanese Shi'ite foes were ready to heed the Beirut government's pleas for an immediate halt to a war that has cost at least 285 lives in Lebanon and 25 in Israel.

Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, wants to swap two Israeli soldiers it captured on July 12 for Lebanese and Palestinians in Israeli jails. Israel is determined to drive the guerrillas from the south to halt cross-border rocket attacks.

''The intensive fighting against the Hizbollah organisation shall continue,'' Israel's inner cabinet said, adding that the aim was to recover the soldiers and remove the Hizbollah threat.

At least 12 Lebanese, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded in an Israeli air strike that destroyed several houses in the southern village of Srifa, residents said.

''There was a massacre in Srifa,'' the village's mayor, Afif Najdi, told Reuters, saying the death toll could climb to at least 17 once all the bodies had been pulled from the rubble.

Foreigners Flee

At least 37 other civilians were killed in air strikes that hammered other parts of south and east Lebanon, security sources said. Hizbollah said one of its fighters was killed.

UNI