Israel, Hizbollah in border clash

Israeli troops crossed the border to raid Hizbollah posts and the Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and nine injured in fierce fighting with Hizbollah guerrillas yesterday.

Air strikes on Lebanon killed 58 civilians and a Hizbollah fighter.

This was the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated. Yesterday's fierce clash inside Lebanon showed the militia was still moving freely near Israel's border despite a week of heavy artillery barrages. Israel's army said one Hizbollah fighter was killed in the firefight, one of the heaviest since the crisis erupted.

The army said limited ground operations to destroy Hizbollah weapons bunkers, hideouts and sites used to launch rockets from inside the hilly frontier would continue despite the casualties.

"Hizbollah attacked soldiers operating in the area and troops opened fire and killed one of the militants," the army said.

"The (Hizbollah) cell escaped to a nearby village." An army spokesman said the military obtained intelligence that the cell was planning an attack, possibly a land raid into northern Israel. Troops crossed the border to investigate and came under fire around midday, he said. Troops had moved in north of the Israeli village of Avivim,the spokesman said. Asked how far they went inside Lebanon, he said it was not a matter of kilometres, declining to elaborate. Troops sent in to assist also came under attack. "Forces went in to rescue those injured. During that activity they also came under fire. An armoured vehicle was hit, it did not explode," said the spokesman.

The spokesman said he was only aware of Hizbollah automatic weapons fire in the clash, nothing heavier. Soldiers had earlier gone into the area overnight to destroy abandoned Hizbollah bunkers and rocket launch sites, he said. Troops have been carrying out such missions periodically in recent days, often using armoured bulldozers to topple Hizbollah buildings. Many Lebanese residents have fled. "The aim of these operations is to harm the terror infrastructure of Hizbollah near the border and operations to this goal will continue," an army spokesman said. Israeli artillery batteries lined up along the 80-km frontier have been shelling Lebanon since Hizbollah captured two soldiers and killed eight in a border raid a week ago, sparking the crisis.

Meanwhile Hizbollah rockets killed two children in the northern city of Nazareth, medics said. More Hizbollah rockets fell on the city of Haifa and one hit an empty seafront restaurant.

Despite international concern, there was no sign Israel or its Lebanese Shi'ite foes were ready to heed the Beirut government's pleas for an immediate halt to a war that has killed at least 294 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said more than 500,000 people had been displaced and appealed for international help.

"I call on you to respond immediately and without reservation to our call for a ceasefire and to provide urgent international humanitarian aid," he said in a televised address.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the bombardment would last "as long as necessary" to free two soldiers captured by Hizbollah on July 12 and ensure its militants are disarmed.

Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, wants to swap the two Israeli soldiers for Lebanese and Palestinians in Israeli jails. At least 17 Lebanese, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded in an Israeli air strike that destroyed houses in the southern village of Srifa, residents said.