Hezbollah inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli troops as they battled for a key hilltop town in southern Lebanon for a fourth day Wednesday, with at least 12 soldiers reported killed.

Israel has faced fiercer resistance than expected as it advances across the border in its campaign against the Islamic militant group.

Lebanese officials, meanwhile, confirmed that four UN observers were killed when an Israeli airstrike struck their post the night before.

A resident stands in front of his a collapsed apartment building in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon Wednesday, July 26, 2006, which was destroyed by fresh Israeli airstrikes Tuesday. Hezbollah guerrillas battled to stop Israeli troops from taking the southern stronghold of Bint Jbail on Wednesday, inflicting several Israeli casualties, as Arab and Western foreign ministers assembled in Rome for talks on the crisis. [AP]

The fighting came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel plans to maintain a security zone in the south until either a multinational force is deployed or Hezbollah is pushed back in a cease-fire agreement that also cuts off the supply of its weapons.

Peretz indicated that troops would try to control such a zone from a distance, by artillery fire and airstrikes, rather than patrolling south Lebanon. The remarks were the first indication of the possibility of a longer Israeli involvement than previously had been raised by officials wary of public anger over its 18-year occupation of the area that ended in 2000.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a parliament committee Wednesday that Israel will not reoccupy any part of southern Lebanon, participants said, apparently to reassure lawmakers and the public that troops will not return to Lebanon permanently.

Proposals for disarming the Shiite Islamic militant group and assembling an international peacekeeping force along the Israeli-Lebanese border were on the agenda Wednesday as U.S. Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice and other key Mideast players met in Rome to discuss the crisis.

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said the conference was a "starting point" for bringing peace and stability to Lebanon and effective security to Israel.

Page:

1

2