Christian heartland hit.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israels pounding of Hezbollah positions across Lebanon expanded Friday with missiles targeting bridges in the Christian heartland north of Beirut for the first time, an attack that further isolates Lebanon from the outside world.

Five civilians were killed and 19 wounded in the airstrikes north of the capital, Lebanese security officials said. A Lebanese soldier and four civilians were killed in air raids near Beiruts airport and southern suburbs, security officials and witnesses said.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said that two Israeli soldiers were killed and two wounded by a Hezbollah-fired anti-tank missile in southern Lebanon. In northern Israel, one woman was killed and several people injured after more than 33 Hezbollah rockets landed across the border.

The destruction of four bridges on the main north-south coastal highway linking Beirut to Syria further sealed Lebanon from outside links, as the Israeli naval blockade and earlier strikes against roadways have largely closed off other access points.

Fierce fighting continued along the Israeli-Lebanon border.

An Israeli Army spokesman said Israeli forces had killed at least 10 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah on its casualties.

Barrage of rockets slams into Israel
The clashes came a day after a massive barrage of guerrilla rockets pounded northern Israel, killing eight people, and an offer by Hezbollahs leader to stop the attacks if Israel ends its airstrikes. Two more rockets hit northern Israel early Friday, causing little damage.

Israels United Nations ambassador, Dan Gillerman, said that Sheik Hassan Nasrallahs offer of a truce was a sign of weakness ... and he may be looking for a way out.

Gillerman warned against Hezbollah threats to launch rockets on Israels commercial center of Tel Aviv. We are ready for it, and I am sure that he (Nasrallah), as well as his sponsors, realize the consequences of doing something as unimaginable and crazy as that, the Israeli ambassador told CNN early Friday.

The Israeli military said the targets of the latest attacks in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahieh were Hezbollah facilities and a Hamas office. Beirut media said Israel launched 24 bombing runs in an hour.

South Beirut has been attacked repeatedly by Israeli warplanes since fighting began July 12. It is predominantly a Shiite Muslim sector largely controlled by Hezbollah guerrillas, and Israel has not struck Beirut proper since the start of the war.

Israel expands attack
However, the strikes early Friday hit the affluent Christian locality of Jounieh, north of the capital, for the first time. The bombing against the picturesque coastal resort marked a sharp expansion of Israels attack on Lebanon, which now threatens Christian areas where Hezbollah has no support and no presence.

In the hills of southern Lebanon, Israeli artillery intensified bombing overnight, sometimes sending as many as 15 shells per minute against suspected Hezbollah strongholds.

On the second front of its offensive against Islamic militants, Israel began pulling tanks out of southern Gaza after a two-day incursion, after aircraft fired at clusters of militants. The heavy clashes killed eleven Palestinians, including an 8-year-old boy.

Despite Hezbollahs truce offer and continuing diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire, the Israeli army prepared to push up to Lebanons Litani River, about 20 miles north of the border, as part of its campaign to force the guerrillas away from the border and make room for a planned international force to patrol the area.

In the 24th day of Israels punishing onslaught, Hezbollah has shown surprising strength and has found its support in Lebanon and among the larger Arab world vastly bolstered. With calls for a cease-fire growing more intense, it appeared likely that Hezbollah would emerge damaged but far from destroyed by the fighting.

Hundreds killed
The fighting in Gaza, which began June 25 after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid, has killed a total of 175 Palestinians, the U.N. reported, adding that it was concerned that with international attention focusing on Lebanon, the tragedy in Gaza is being forgotten.

The offensive in Lebanon began after another cross-border raid by militants, in this case Hezbollah guerrillas, captured two Israeli soldiers. More than three weeks into the fighting, six Israeli brigades or roughly 10,000 troops were locked in battle with hundreds of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon.

Since the fighting started, an Associated Press count shows that at least 530 Lebanese have been killed, including 454 civilians confirmed dead by the Health Ministry, 26 Lebanese soldiers and at least 50 Hezbollah guerrillas. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said that 1 million people or about a quarter of Lebanons population had fled the fighting.

Sixty-eight Israelis have been killed 41 soldiers and 27 civilians. More than 300,000 Israelis have fled their homes in the north, Israeli officials said.

Despite Israels efforts to crush Hezbollah, the guerrillas launched at least 200 rockets into northern Israel on Thursday. The barrage underscored Hezbollahs continued ability to carry out unrelenting strikes.

In response, Defense Minister Amir Peretz told top army officers to begin preparing for the next stage of the offensive in south Lebanon, a push to the Litani River, senior military officials said. Such a push would require further approval by Israels Security Cabinet and could lead to far more casualties.

The Israeli army said it has taken up positions in or near 11 towns and villages across south Lebanon as part of an effort to carve out a smaller 5-mile-deep Hezbollah-free zone.

In his televised speech broadcast Thursday night, Hezbollahs Nasrallah for the first time offered to stop firing rockets into Israel if it stops its airstrikes. But he also threatened to launch missiles into Tel Aviv if Israel hits Beirut.

Anytime you decide to stop your campaign against our cities, villages, civilians and infrastructure, we will not fire rockets on any Israeli settlement or city, he said in a taped statement broadcast on Hezbollahs Al-Manar TV.

Speaking directly to Israelis, Nasrallah added, The only choice before you is to stop your aggression and turn to negotiations to end this folly.

Israeli officials shrugged off the offer, saying Hezbollah was on the defensive and was looking for a breather.

Cease-fire resolution
At the United Nations, France circulated a revised resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities and spelling out the conditions for a permanent cease-fire and lasting solution to the crisis.

Israel, backed by the United States, has rejected calls for an immediate cease-fire, saying it wants an international force or the Lebanese army to deploy in southern Lebanon to prevent future Hezbollah attacks.

In an effort to bolster the Lebanese military, the United States announced plans to train the Lebanese army so it can take control of the south after the fighting ends. Other nations will help out as well, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

Venezuela withdraws Ambassador from Zionist Israel August 4, 2006 "La Voz de Aztlan" Website: http://www.aztlan.net The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez Frias, has recalled his country's Ambassador to Israel to show his "indignation" over the military offensive in Lebanon. In a televised speech on Thursday, he called the Israeli attacks "genocide". He said: "It really causes indignation to see how the state of Israel continues bombing, killing ... with all of the power they have, with the support of the United States." Chavez has repeatedly criticised the Israeli offensive. He said: "It's hard to explain to oneself how nobody does anything to stop this horror." During a recent visit to Iran, Chavez called Israeli attacks on Lebanon a "fascist outrage". Hugo Chavez criticised Israeli Zionists because they repeatedly condemn Adolf Hitler's actions against the Jews when they themselves are doing the same against the Palestinian people. === VENEZUELA WITHDRAWS AMBASSADOR TO ZIONIST-OCCUPIED PALESTINE http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-08/04/04.shtml CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday, August 3, ordered the withdrawal of Venezuela's ambassador in Israel in protest against the Israeli offensives in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "I have ordered the withdrawal of our ambassador in Israel," Chavez said during a speech in the northwestern state of Falcon, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. "It's really outrageous to watch Israel as it continues to abuse, bomb and massacre innocent people with its yankee planes," added the leftist leader. Up to 900 Lebanese civilians, third of whom were children, since Israel has launched a 24-day-long blitz in Lebanon on the claim of seeking the release of two soldiers taken prisoner by the Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah. The sepulchral silence and hoary-old cliches of Arab and Muslim rulers at the non-stop Israeli massacres have left their peoples boiling. Turkey was amonfiltered=97 to have take a firm action of protest. Some 70 Turkish MPs have resigned from Turkey-Israel Inter-parliamentary Friendship Group. Egypt and Jordan, Mauritania the only Arab countries having diplomatic ties with Israel have rejected calls to withdraw ambassadors from Tel Aviv or expel the Israeli envoys. Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have rather blamed Hizbullah for triggering the conflict. Pundits believe that some Arab rulers hoped that Hizbullah would be defeated by Israel, fearing that a victory by the resistance group would serve as a catalyst for reformists to push forward with their demands. Indignation Chavez also hit out at the excessive Israeli force. "It really causes indignation to see how the state of Israel continues bombing, killing ... with all of the power they have, with the support of the United States," he added. Israel on Friday, August 4, continued its destruction of the Lebanese infrastructure, destroying three highway bridges north of Beirut. Up to 23 Lebanese were killed Friday in Israeli air strikes on southern Lebanon. Israel also stepped up its offensive against the Gaza Strip on Friday, killing four Palestinians in Rafah, taking to 12 the number of people killed in the area in less than 24 hours. At least 164 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed since Israel launched an open-ended military offensive on Gaza on claims of recovering a soldier taken prisoner by Palestinian groups to swap for 95 women and 313 children who are among almost 10,000 Arabs in Israeli prisons. Genocide Chavez also denounced the world indifference to the Israeli massacres against the Lebanese and Palestinian people. "You can't understand why the world looks on with nonchalance. You can't understand why nobody does anything to stop this horror," he said, blaming the United States for failing to stop the Israeli onslaught. "The United States has prevented the (UN) Security Council from taking any action to stop Israel's genocide against the people of Palestine and Lebanon." Washington has resisted mounting calls for an immediate ceasefire of the Israeli offensive in Lebanon. Washington also drew rebuke across the Arab and Muslim world for shipping arms and leaser-guided bombs to Israel to be used during its attacks in Lebanon. "That's one of the reasons behind the United States' blatant, frank and immoral drive to bar us from joining the UN Security Council," said Chavez, referring to Venezuela's efforts to seek a permanent seat on the council. Venezuela is the world's No. 5 oil exporter and a key supplier of oil to the United States. === UK airport used to fly bombs to Israel By Thomas Harding Defence Correspondent and Anil Dawar 26th July 2006 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/26/wmid26.xml Britain has been used as a staging post for major shipments of bunker-busting bombs from America to Israel. The Israelis want the 5,000lb smart bombs to attack the bunkers being used by Hizbollah leaders in Lebanon. Two chartered Airbus A310 cargo planes filled with GBU 28 laser-guided bombs landed at Prestwick airport, near Glasgow, for refuelling and crew rests after flying across the Atlantic at the weekend, defence sources confirmed. The airport has also been used by the CIA for rendition flights carrying terrorist suspects. The Government's agreement to the bomb flights was criticised last night by the Liberal Democrats. "In light of disproportionate military attacks, the Government should take steps to suspend all arms transfers to Israel, whether directly from or through the UK," said Michael Moore, the party's foreign affairs spokesman. President George W Bush appeared uncomfortable when he was asked if he regarded the simultaneous American provision of military support and humanitarian aid to Israel as contradictory. He said that America was honouring commitments to Israel made before the current crisis flared up. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are looking at our approach to these flights." It has been reported that efforts to crush Hizbollah have been hindered by a lack of bombs capable of penetrating their command bunkers. === U.N. AGENCIES SAY AID DOOR TO LEBANON CLOSED By Robert Evans 25-Jul-06 http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1080862006 GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations humanitarian agencies said on Tuesday they were still largely blocked from bringing relief supplies into Lebanon and from getting injured and chronically sick people to hospitals. The agencies spoke just before Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said his government would allow aid airlifts through its air and sea blockade to its northern neighbour. BUT THE FIRST REACTION WAS THAT THE ISRAELI MOVE DID LITTLE TO SOLVE THE IMMEDIATE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS. "It is enormously frustrating to be right on the back doorstep of Lebanon and ready to move in with hundreds of tonnes of aid, but the door remains closed," spokeswoman Jennifer Pagonis of the refugee agency UNHCR told a news briefing. And the World Health Organisation (WHO) said hospitals in the south were running out of medicines and fuel for the generators that they have been forced to use since Israeli bombing cut off normal power supplies. The agencies said the situation for civilians was getting worse by the day in southern Lebanon -- where Israel has been attacking the Islamic Hizbollah militia for nearly two weeks -- and in temporary shelters for people who have fled the area. The UNHCR's Pagonis said supplies for 20,000 packed into parks or public buildings in and around Beirut "are still blocked in Syria, waiting a safe route into Lebanon." Humanitarian officials and reports from the region say Israeli planes have bombed roads and destroyed bridges on roads from the Syrian border -- apparently in an effort to stop fresh weapon supplies reaching the Hizbollah. MATTER OF HOURS "We have urgently needed tents, mattresses, blankets and other aid which would be delivered in only a matter of hours if only we had access to the country," said Pagonis. Olmert's announcement of an air lift and a linked offer of a humanitarian corridor from Israel itself came after talks in Jerusalem with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Top U.N. officials and independent humanitarian bodies have been calling on Israel for days to guarantee the security of aid convoys to heavily bombed areas of the south. But, asked later for comment on the Israeli move, Pagonis said it did not appear "to address the immediate situation we are confronted with right now" -- the absence of safe passage authorisation for the supplies waiting in Syria. And another U.N. source said a route through Israel would take much longer to organise and greatly delay the arrival of urgently needed food, medical supplies and relief equipment. In a separate telephone news conference, officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva and Beirut said they were also having problems in moving around in Lebanon. "A big problem is access, to bring first aid and to get supplies to hospitals," WHO representative in Lebanon Jaouad Mahjour said on a radio-telephone link from Beirut. "Another big problem is evacuating the injured." === Moms search for dead children AFP 30/07/2006 http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Middle_East/0,,2-10-2075_1975483,00.html Qana - Mothers embraced their dead children in shock on Sunday as rescue workers tackled the rubble and dust of buildings flattened by Israeli bombing raids on south Lebanon that killed at least 51 people. Rescue workers using only their bare hands searched through piles of debris - all the Israeli raids left behind of the buildings - while distraught women joined in to retrieve the bodies and take them away. Among the buildings hit in the two hours of raids on the southern village of Qana was a shelter where dozens had fled to escape Israeli bombardment of areas thought to be even more exposed. "After the bombardment there was dust everywhere. We couldn't see anything. I succeeded in getting out and everything collapsed. "I have several members of the family inside and I do not think there will be any other survivors," said a distraught Ibrahim Shalhoub, 26. "The bombing was so intense that no-one could move. Rescue efforts could only start this morning," said the man, one of just five people believed to have survived the strike on the shelter. The bodies of 22 children were among those recovered from under the rubble of dozens of buildings which collapsed after the bombardment, said Salam Daher, the civil defense chief in the region. "I retrieved my son and my husband, Sheikh Mohamad, who were wounded. But when I came back to get my daughter who had stayed in the shelter, it was too late because the building had crumpled," cried a woman identified as Rahba. Terrified mothers held up and then embraced the bodies of their dead children, still wearing the pyjamas they had gone to sleep in. The bodies were covered in dust. In Israel, the military rejected responsibility for civilian deaths in Qana, saying the Shiite militant Hezbollah was to blame for using the village as a rocket-launching site. "The Hezbollah used the village of Qana as a base to launch rockets and it bears responsibility that this area is a combat zone," army spokesman Jacob Dalal told AFP. Qana was the site of an Israeli bombing of a United Nations base on April 18, 1996 that killed 105 people who had taken refuge there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive - also aimed at wiping out Hezbollah. Ten years later tragedy has returned to Qana. "There was a first bombardment at 01:00 (22:00 GMT on Saturday)," said resident Ghazi Aaidibi. "A few people went out of the shelter and about 10 minutes later a second bombardment destroyed it. There were 63 people inside, from the Shalhub and Hashem families." Rescue operations had to stop in the morning over fears that the final storey of the building was about to collapse. And as the recovery efforts continued, Israeli jets continued to launch sporadic raids around the outskirts of Qana. Sunday's blistering air assault on the village came as Israeli forces made a new ground incursion into Lebanon and were engaged in fierce battles with Hezbollah guerrillas in the southeastern border area, Lebanese police said. Clashes were raging on the outskirts of the village of Taibe, a few kilometres o the west of Fatima gate, a sealed border crossing into Israel, they said. A Hezbollah statement said its guerrillas were engaged in "fierce confrontations" with Israeli forces who had moved into the Taibe region. Meanwhile Lebanon's main international border crossing was closed, a day after Israeli warplanes targeted the road to Syria, further increasing the country's isolation, an AFP correspondent at the scene said. Heavy bombs had gouged out large craters on the road leading to the Syrian border at Masnaa in eastern Lebanon, he said. ********************************************************************* WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE