Israel calls up army reservists

Israel has called up army reservists in preparation for a ground invasion of Lebanon and Beirut has promised that the Lebanese army will resist any Israeli offensive.

The Israeli army told 3,000 reserves to report for duty, an Israeli military source said on Friday, a day after Amir Peretz, the defence minister, refused to rule out a land offensive.

“There is no intention of occupying Lebanon, but if certain things must be done, we will do them without hesitating,” Peretz said.

Senior army commanders have also refused to dismiss speculation that a large-scale ground invasion would soon be launched.

“It’s possible that in the coming days our ground operations will increase,” Brigadier-General Alon Friedman, in charge of army operations in the north, said.

Israel also dropped leaflets over Lebanese border villages warning civilian inhabitants to leave their homes before an Israeli offensive. Hundreds of thousands of people have already fled.

Lebanon will fight

But Elias al-Murr, the Lebanese defence minister, said on Friday that the Lebanese army would fight any Israeli invasion.

“Our constitutional duty is to defend Lebanon as a Lebanese army. This is our role.

“Any Lebanese citizens, Christians or Muslims, who want to defend their land are welcomed.

“Defending one’s land can be done in several ways, either helping the army with food or water, giving psychological or political support because this is a war opened on all fronts.”

But al-Murr said the Lebanese army would not be working directly with Hezbollah.

“But for the resistance (Hezbollah) to enter the army and fight alongside the army, this is not an option, because the army can’t fight like the resistance, nor can the resistance fight like the army.”

Lebanon’s army is drawn from all the country’s religious communities and has remained largely neutral in the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

However, at least a dozen of its soldiers have been killed after Israeli aircraft targeted its bases.

Fresh attacks

The increasing signs of a ground war comes as Israeli aircraft attacked targets throughout Lebanon for the tenth successive day, bringing the Lebanese toll for the conflict to more than 340.

Targets across Lebanon were hit on Friday morning, with at least 10 people being killed.

Jets bombed Hezbollah targets in Beirut, the Bekaa valley and southern Lebanon and also hit a previously-bombed bridge on the main Beirut-Damascus highway.

In the Baalbek, a city in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa valley, Israeli aircraft bombed Hezbollah buildings, killing at least three civilians, hospital staff said.

In the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, hospital authorities overwhelmed by the number of dead have begun temporarily burying the dead in mass graves.

Hezbollah rockets

Israel says that its air attacks aim to prevent Hezbollah launching more rockets at Israeli cities.

Hezbollah has fired more than 900 rockets at northern Israel, killing 15 civilians. Nineteen Israeli soldiers have also been killed in the conflict.

The resistance group launched at least 10 more rockets at Israeli towns and cities on Friday morning.

Three missiles landed in Haifa, Israel’s largest city, wounding at least 19 civilians.

Agencies