MIDDLE EAST: Fierce fighting between Israeli troops and Hizbullah guerillas raged in south Lebanon yesterday, although Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was still holding back on issuing an order for a dramatic expansion of Israel's ground offensive as he waited to see if last-minute diplomatic efforts at the United Nations might still produce a ceasefire.
A member of Mr Olmert's ruling Kadima party, Otniel Schneller, quoted the Israeli leader last night as saying that a new UN ceasefire proposal was being drafted "which has positive significance that may bring the war to an end. But if the draft is not accepted, there is the cabinet decision," Mr Schneller said.
Israel's security cabinet voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to expand the ground operation in Lebanon, with the army planning to push as far as the Litani river, some 30km inside Lebanon, and beyond in an effort to end the barrage of rockets that Hizbullah has rained down on northern Israel for almost a month.
But with the political leadership being told that a push to the Litani would result in numerous casualties on the Israeli side, Mr Olmert ensured that the decision authorised him to determine the timing for the launch of the operation.
Israel suffered its worst losses on the battlefield in a single day on Tuesday when 15 soldiers were killed in clashes with Hizbullah in villages in south Lebanon.
Defence Minister Amir Peretz, who toured the northern border yesterday, said Israel's preference was to achieve its demands via "diplomatic means" but that if ceasefire talks at the UN failed then the military would employ "all the tools necessary" to smash Hizbullah.
Israel has insisted that any ceasefire arrangement must include the deployment of an effective international force with sufficient firepower in south Lebanon to ensure Hizbullah is kept away from the border, an embargo on the movement of any weaponry into Lebanon and the disarming of the Shia organisation.
While Lebanon has called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israeli troops, Israel is insisting that it will remain in south Lebanon until an international force arrives.
An Israeli soldier was killed yesterday in the south Lebanese village of Klia when his tank was hit by an anti-tank missile. The death brought to 82 the number of Israeli soldiers killed since fighting erupted on July 12th. Under cover of intense artillery shelling, Israeli troops moved overnight on Wednesday into the Christian town of Marjayoun, considered an important foothold ahead of a push toward the Litani.
In Israel, a mother and her five-year-old son were killed in the Israeli Arab village of Dir el-Assad in northern Israel when a rocket smashed into their home. The deaths brought to 38 the number of civilians killed in Hizbullah rocket attacks.
Four Lebanese civilians were reported killed yesterday in Israeli aerial raids, including a motorcyclist in Tyre and a civilian in the Bekaa Valley. Lebanese officials have put the civilian death toll in Israeli air raids at anywhere between 700 and 1,000.
Israeli forces have been astonished at the discovery of networks of bunkers and computerised weapons in Hizbullah positions, according to officials.
Troops have found air-conditioned bunkers 40 metres below the ground and anti-tank weapons that originate in France, the US and Russia. "There were some weapons we did not know about," said Gen Ido Nehushtan.
"We have to recognise that we will be dealing with new definitions of victory," said Nehushtan. "There will be no white flags being raised on this battlefield."