Lebanese flee

Thousands of Lebanese civilians fled north yesterday after Israel warned them to leave border villages and called up 3,000 army reserves in a possible prelude to a major ground offensive against Hizbollah guerillas.

Amid mounting world alarm at the 10-day-old conflict, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would visit the Middle East next week and attend an Italian-hosted international conference in Rome on Tuesday in a bid to secure lasting peace.

The United States, Israel's main ally, has rebuffed Lebanon's appeals for an immediate UN-backed ceasefire, saying this would not last unless Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is prevented from attacking the Jewish state.

Ms Rice told a news conference in Washington an immediate ceasefire would be a "false promise" if the root causes of the conflict were not addressed. "An immediate ceasefire without political conditions does not make sense," she said.

Washington supported proposals for an expanded international force on the Israel-Lebanon border but details were not fixed, a senior US official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. A 2,000-strong UN force monitors the border at present.

Israel has so far failed to stop Hizbollah cross-border rocket attacks despite its 10-day bombardment, which has killed 345 people in Lebanon, forced half a million to leave their homes and destroyed many of the country's vital installations.

Hizbollah rockets crashed into the northern Israeli city of Haifa yesterday, wounding 19 people. Other towns were also hit. Rocket attacks have killed 15 civilians in Israel, which has also lost 19 soldiers in the conflict.

Families with possessions packed into cars and pickup trucks clogged roads to the north after Israeli planes dropped leaflets warning residents of south Lebanon to flee for safety beyond the Litani river, about 20 km from the border.

An estimated 300,000 mostly Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese normally reside south of the Litani. There was no word on how many have already fled the bombing and fighting of the past few days. Air raids have wrecked many roads and bridges in the region.

"The siege on Lebanon is not letting humanitarian aid in," said Hisham Hassan, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "The south is isolated."