Israel will "expand and strengthen" its attack on Hizbullah, Israel's defense minister said Monday, while the army honored a 48-hour halt in aerial strikes following the killing of some 60 Lebanese civilians on Sunday.
Israel's top ministers are expected to discuss expanding the army's ground operation at a meeting later Monday, senior defense officials said. "Israel will expand and strengthen its activities against the Hizbullah," Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Israel's parliament, while Arab lawmakers repeatedly interrupted him with calls for an immediate cease-fire.
The stunning in the village of Qana escalated international pressure on Washington to back an immediate end to the fighting and prompted U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to cut short her Mideast mission.
She told reporters before leaving Jerusalem for Washington that only by achieving both a ceasefire and a lasting settlement "will the Lebanese people be able to control their country and their future, and the people of Israel finally be able to live free of attack from terrorist groups in Lebanon."
On the ground, three Israeli troops were lightly injured when Hizbullah fighters fired anti-tank rockets at them in south Lebanon on Monday morning. Early Monday afternoon, Lebanese security sources said Israeli fire on a Lebanese army post on the main coastal road in south Lebanon on Monday killed one soldier and wounded three.
Until noon, Hizbullah gunners didn't fire any rockets at Israel. A Lebanese parliamentarian from Hizbullah hinted Monday that the resistance group may be willing to put its attacks on hold, in the wake of a 48-hour cessation of Israeli air strikes. "Shelling [Israeli] settlements is a Lebanese reaction to shelling Lebanese civilians," Hassan Fadlallah said. "When Israel stops its aggression on the south, on Lebanon, on civilians... naturally this reaction could stop. But has Israel stopped its aggression?"
But he questioned Israel's motivation, telling Lebanese television it was just "an attempt to absorb international indignation over the Qana massacre."
