Sidon, Lebanon – Mideast diplomats were pressing Syria to stop backing Hezbollah as the guerrillas fired more deadly rockets onto Israel’s third- largest city Sunday. Israel faced tougher-than-expected ground battles and bombarded targets in southern Lebanon, hitting a convoy of refugees.
Israel’s defense minister said his country would accept an international force, preferably NATO, on its border after it drives back or weakens Hezbollah. But his troops described the militants they encountered as a smart, well-organized and ruthless guerrilla force whose fighters do not seem afraid to die.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview published today that an Israeli ground invasion would not prevent the Shiite militant group from firing rockets into Israel. But he said he was open to discussing initiatives.
With U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arriving in Israel today, both the Arabs and Israelis appeared to be trying to set out positions ahead of Washington’s first diplomatic mission to the region since the fighting began. Rice said Sunday that the United States’ poor relationship with Syria is overstated and indicated an openness to working with Damascus to resolve the crisis.
The U.S. backs Israel’s refusal to talk about a cease-fire until it completes the military campaign against Hezbollah but is under increasing pressure to foster a plan to end the suffering and destruction in Lebanon.
Still, daily casualty figures appeared to be falling – about nine confirmed Sunday by Lebanese security officials, compared with dozens each day earlier last week. The decrease could be a result of the exodus from the hardest-hit areas or because of the difficulty in getting figures from the war zone.
In the 12th day of fighting, guerrillas launched more than a dozen rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa, killing two people.
A convoy of nearly 70 people fleeing Tairi – a border village where Israel warned residents to evacuate a day earlier – was driving with Lebanese Red Cross ambulances when missiles hit nearby, some drivers told journalists in the city of Tyre, where the wounded were taken.
A minibus was struck, killing three people and wounding 16 – including 10 women and four children, said Dr. Hassan Nasreddine of the International Red Cross.
Layal Nejib, 23, a photographer for a Lebanese magazine, was killed as her taxi approached the convoy, said her driver, who was unharmed. She was the first journalist killed in the campaign.
In the far south, fighting with Hezbollah raged around the Israeli military’s foothold in Lebanon – the border village of Maroun al-Ras. But so far the Israeli army was not advancing.
Hezbollah reported three of its fighters killed.
Israeli military officials said their forces captured two Hezbollah guerrillas Sunday. Israel Army Radio said they were the first prisoners Israel has taken in this offensive.
Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said.
A loss of Syria’s support would deeply weaken Hezbollah, though its other ally, Iran, gives it a large part of its money and weapons. The two moderate Arab governments were prepared to spend heavily from Egypt’s political capital in the region and Saudi Arabia’s vast financial reserves to break Damascus from the guerrillas and Iran, the diplomats said.
Syria said it will press for a cease-fire to end the fighting – but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights. Israel was unlikely to accept such terms, but it was the first indication of Syria’s willingness to be involved in efforts to defuse the crisis.
In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal asked President Bush to intervene.
“I have brought a letter from the Saudi king to stop the bleeding in Lebanon,” he said.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that once the offensive had gotten Hezbollah away from the border, his country would be willing to see an international force move in.
Bush’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, said the administration would be open to an international peacekeeping force but does not expect U.S. forces to participate in one.
