No ceasefire in Lebanon in coming days

JERUSALEM, July 31 (Reuters) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said today that there would be no ceasefire in the war against Hizbollah in Lebanon until the threat from the guerrilla group was removed and captured Israeli soldiers were freed.

''The fighting continues. There is no ceasefire and there will not be any ceasefire in the coming days,'' Olmert said in a forceful address to mayors of northern Israeli towns under frequent Hizbollah rocket fire, drawing sustained applause.

''We will stop the war when the (rocket) threat is removed ...

our captive soldiers return home in peace, and you are able to live in safety and security,'' Olmert said, speaking at a podium in front of a large Israeli flag.

''We are fighting against murderous terrorists and the war will not stop until we clear them from the border.'' US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier today she believed agreement on a ceasefire and an international peacekeeping force could be forged this week.

Israel has come under mounting pressure to agree to a truce after an international outcry over the deaths of at least 54 civilians, most of them children, in an air strike on the Lebanese village of Qana yesterday.

''Citizens of Lebanon, we are sorry for the pain caused to you, and the fact that you had to pick up and flee your homes, and also the casualties caused among innocents,'' Olmert said.

''But we will not apologise to those who put a question mark on the right of Israel to exist,'' he added.

Olmert said Israel's offensive in Lebanon had inflicted a heavy blow on Hizbollah from which it may never recover.

REUTERS SKU KN2240