Lebanon rejects U.N. cease-fire plan

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Lebanon's government rejected a U.N. cease-fire plan backed by President Bush on Monday, demanding Israel immediately withdraw and promising to send 15,000 troops to take control of the Hezbollah stronghold along the border.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's stand, delivered in a tearful speech to Arab foreign ministers, came on a day in which at least 49 Lebanese were killed, one of the deadliest days in four weeks of fighting. The rejection, ratified by the Cabinet, complicated efforts to find a speedy diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Saniora's Cabinet, which includes two Hezbollah ministers, voted unanimously to send 15,000 troops to stand between Israel and Hezbollah should a cease-fire take hold and Israeli forces withdraw south of the border.

The move was an attempt to show Lebanon has the will and ability to assert control over its south, which is run by Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militia backed by Syria and Iran.

In Texas, Bush said any cease-fire must prevent Hezbollah from strengthening its grip in southern Lebanon, asserting "it's time to address root causes of problems." He urged the United Nations to work quickly to approve the U.S.-French draft resolution to stop the hostilities.

But the cease-fire plan under scrutiny at the United Nations has drawn lukewarm support in Israel and vilification in the Arab world. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah has found an incentive to stop fighting, and both may be trying to gain advantage on the ground before a cease-fire.

Indeed, Hezbollah fired 160 rockets Monday, wounding five Israelis, police and rescue services said. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in south Lebanon, the first in an exchange of fire with Hezbollah fighters and the two others by an anti-tank missile, the Israeli army said.

Israel launched more than 150 airstrikes, killing at least 49 people, and striking close to Beirut.

The day's heaviest toll was exacted when Israeli warplanes took aim after sunset at the southern Beirut neighborhood of Chiah, flattening a six-story apartment building.

By midnight, at least 20 people had been found dead, Lebanese television reported.

The building was about 750 yards from the municipal boundary of Beirut on the edge of a Hezbollah stronghold, marking the closest Israel has come to bombing the capital since Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened to strike Tel Aviv if central Beirut is hit.

At the Arab League meeting in Beirut, Saniora repeatedly interrupted his opening address to the assembled foreign ministers to wipe away tears.

But the impassioned appeal did not change minds in Israel. The defense minister threatened an expanded ground operation if diplomacy does not produce results soon.

"I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic process does not reach a conclusion, Israeli forces will carry out the operations necessary to take control of rocket-launching sites wherever they are," Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said.

Justice Minister Haim Ramon said Israel could not withdraw before the arrival of an international force. "The moment we leave, Hezbollah will return."

Lebanon has been unable for nearly two years to implement a previous U.N. resolution calling for disarmament of the Shiite militants.

The new U.N. resolution under consideration calls for "a full cessation of hostilities" based on "the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."

But it makes no explicit mention of an Israeli withdrawal and implicitly allows Israeli defensive operations.

Instead, it calls in the longer-term for a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, which Hezbollah controls. Only Lebanese armed forces and U.N.-mandated international troops would be allowed in the zone.

The Arab foreign ministers said in Beirut they would send a delegation to the United Nations to represent Lebanon's interests at a meeting with the Security Council today.

They will demand major changes in the draft resolution, including a call for Israeli forces to pull out of Lebanon once the fighting stops and hand over their positions to U.N. peacekeepers.

The timing of the meeting means the U.N. Security Council probably would not adopt a resolution until Wednesday at the earliest.

Material from the Los Angeles Times is included in this report.