Olmert meets defence chiefs after rocket barrages

Jerusalem, Aug 7: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met top defence officials today to discuss broadening air and ground attacks on Lebanon after Hizbollah rockets killed 15 people in northern Israel, political sources said.

There was no announcement after the talks concluded, but the sources said Defence Minister Amir Peretz urged an expanded ground push up to the Litani River, 20 km inside southern Lebanon, in the wake of yesterday's rocket barrage.

The army planned to hit strategic infrastructure targets and symbols of the Lebanese government, Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper reported.

The killing of 12 reserve soldiers and three civilians yesterday was Israel's highest death toll in a single day since the start of the Lebanon war nearly four weeks ago.

It has put Olmert under growing pressure to deliver a stinging blow to Hizbollah and ensure the Jewish state can claim victory once a U N resolution calling for an end to the fighting takes effect, probably this week.

''Enough of this. Let's realise we are at war and conduct a war,'' Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, who lives in northern Israel, said on Israel Radio.

''We have to wage war like war and ensure the Israeli army returns victorious from Lebanon.'' A senior General Staff officer told the Haaretz newspaper that Israel was in the process of renewed escalation.

''We will continue hitting everything that moves in Hizbollah -- but we will also hit strategic civilian infrastructure,'' the officer said.

Haaretz did not offer any examples of what symbols of the Lebanese government might include.

The aim of pushing to the Litani River would be to take out all Hizbollah short-range rocket launching sites and bunkers. Some 10,000 Israeli troops have already carved out a 6-7 km deep zone in the south.

Israeli military officials claim up to 80 per cent of the longer-range missiles have been destroyed, although Western diplomats are sceptical that the figure is so high.

Other Israeli media played down chances of a big escalation ahead of an expected vote this week by the U N Security Council on the resolution calling for an end to the war.

YNET News said military plans for bombing southern Lebanon's electricity infrastructure would be frozen for now.

Israeli air strikes have already caused extensive damage to Lebanon's infrastructure, including roads and bridges that Israel says Hizbollah uses to transport rockets.

The war was triggered when Hizbollah guerrillas seized two soldiers in a cross-border raid.

But yesterday's Hizbollah barrage of nearly 200 rockets drew widespread calls for stepped up military action.

Commentator Ben Caspit wrote in the Maariv daily that Israel had a simple choice -- either run or fight.

''In any case, all eyes are upon us now. Will Israel get down on its knees, give in to the Katyusha rockets and crawl back home, bloodied? The countdown will then begin for the next conflagration,'' he wrote.

Reuters