Israeli tanks push north

AVIVIM, Israel — Israeli tanks backed by artillery fire and air strikes pushed into southern Lebanon on Saturday as the military worked to dislodge Hezbollah forces from the area and set the stage for a new peacekeeping force to take control of the border.

As hundreds of Lebanese civilians fled amid fears of a broader invasion, Israeli fighter jets hit new targets in northern Lebanon, striking television and telephone transmission centers.

The relentless artillery bombardment failed to prevent Hezbollah fighters from launching more than 130 rockets into northern Israel in strikes that injured 20 people, three seriously.

Though Israeli forces moved into the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras, a site of deadly fighting, one of Israel's top generals said the military goal is not to destroy Hezbollah but rather its ability to attack Israel.

"The military objective is to cripple Hezbollah," Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan said. "Disarmament is not the military objective." Rather, he said, disarming Hezbollah is the political goal.

The increasing ground operations, along with Israel's decision to call up thousands of military reservists, has fueled speculation that it is preparing for a broader invasion. But Nehushtan said the Israeli military has no plans to send in large numbers of soldiers soon.

"At this stage at least, ground operations will only be these limited incursions on the border line," he said. "But the ground forces are prepared and ready for whatever it takes."

In 11 days, at least 372 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli strikes, and a refugee crisis has grown.

Israeli jets have hit hundreds of targets, including major bridges, the Beirut airport, Hezbollah neighborhoods and villages across southern Lebanon.

The latest targets were transmission towers for Hezbollah's al Manar television station, as well as the Christian-owned LBC and Radio Free Lebanon.

Some in Beirut were stunned that Israel would hit targets owned by former Lebanese President Bashir Gemayel, an Israeli ally during Lebanon's civil war.

"Israel is afraid of the truth of what it is doing in Lebanon," said Michel Pharaon, Lebanon's minister of state for parliamentary affairs. "That's why it is targeting Arab and foreign media. Showing the truth of the humanitarian situation in the south and the drama of civilians being burned or displaced is no good for Israel."

In Saturday's operations, the Israeli military said it had taken control of the area in and around Maroun al-Ras, a small hilltop town along the border that has been the site of the deadliest clashes in the confrontation. Seven of the 19 Israeli soldiers killed in the fighting have died in clashes around Maroun al-Ras.

"I call it a little army," tank commander Siman Tov said after returning from a protracted battle with Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. "They are prepared to fight."

Unlike Palestinian fighters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who use more rudimentary weapons, Hezbollah has amassed more advanced and deadly firepower that has destroyed or disabled several Israeli tanks.

Hezbollah has been using a network of fortified tunnels and surveillance cameras to keep an eye on advancing Israeli forces, Tov said. Standing at a staging area near one of the damaged tanks, Tov said forces had pushed more than two miles into southern Lebanon and were working to take control of a broad stretch of the border.

Since Hezbollah sparked the clash July 12 by capturing two Israeli soldiers and killing eight others in a coordinated cross-border assault, the militant group has fired nearly 1,000 rockets, killing 15 people across northern Israel.

The United States is backing Israel's stand and dismissing calls for a cease-fire unless it is part of a broader package that would disarm Hezbollah.

Israel is refusing to end its attacks until the weak Lebanese government meets international demands that it disarm Hezbollah and take control of the southern border, long Hezbollah's power base.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to arrive in Israel on Monday, but her trip is not expected to lead to an immediate breakthrough in diplomatic talks.

Thousands of Israelis have fled northern Israel, and towns all along the border are nearly deserted.

On Saturday, Israeli tanks slowly closed in on Maroun al-Ras as artillery fire and air strikes battered the town, which is set on a desolate hill overlooking the Israeli town of Avivim. Gunbattles continued at night, but Israeli soldiers secured a large weapons cache in the hilltop village, an army spokesman said.

Early today, warplanes for the first time hit inside Sidon, currently swollen with refugees, destroying a religious complex that the Israeli military said was used by Hezbollah. Hospital officials said four people were wounded.

Lebanese forces had begun taking up positions in and around the city on Saturday in preparation for a possible Israeli assault. Soldiers set up checkpoints on winding roads as families fled north.

A series of large explosions reverberated through Beirut in the early hours today as Israeli aircraft again pounded Hezbollah's stronghold in the south. Warplanes also attacked the eastern Bekaa Valley, firing missiles in the cities of Hermel and Baalbek, witnesses said. There was no word on casualties in either strike.

In northern Israel, there were few signs along the border that major forces were being dispatched.

Information from the Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press is included in this report.