15 Killed in New Israeli Attacks

At least 15 Lebanese civilians were killed by air strikes as Israeli launched new attacks on the south of the country today.

The bombing came after a UN ceasefire initiative ran into trouble after it was rejected by key Arab states last night.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, warned that she expected fighting to continue once the text was formally adopted either today or tomorrow.

Today's Israeli strikes hit Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut and southern and eastern regions of Lebanon.

Reuters reported that Israeli aircraft had attacked the last remaining crossing on the Litani river between Sidon and Tyre, cutting the main artery for aid supplies to civilians in the south.

Seven Lebanese died when an Israeli missile hit a house in Qassmieh on the coast north of the port city of Tyre during bombardment of the area, civil defence official Youssef Khairallah said.

There were also attacks on Naqoura, on the border, and Ras al-Biyada, around half way between Naqoura and Tyre.

Security officials said a woman and her daughter were killed in an attack near a Lebanese army checkpoint between the villages of Harouf and Dweir. Four people died in a raid on that destroyed a house in Kfar Tebnit.

There was renewed heavy fighting in southern Lebanon as Hizbullah guerrillas tried to stop thousands of Israeli troops from advancing deeper into the country.

The Israeli army said one Israeli solider had been killed in fighting in Bint Jbail today, and four suffered slight injuries. Israeli forces claimed to have killed five Hizbullah gunmen.

At least four explosions were heard around the Bekaa Valley city of Baalbek, 63 miles north of Israel's border, witnesses said.

The Israeli military confirmed it had hit several targets in the area, where Israeli forces last week raided a hospital and claimed to have captured five Hizbullah fighters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Hizbullah rockets yesterday killed 15 people in northern Israel, including 12 reserve soldiers - the deadliest day of rocket attacks since the violence began on July 12.

At least 19 Lebanese civilians died in Israeli air attacks yesterday, and the Lebanese government today said 925 people had so far been killed in the conflict.

Another 75 are missing, presumed dead. More than 80 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have been killed.

Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese prime minister, has expressed concerns that his government may collapse.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has met defence officials to discuss the possibility of expanding the offensive, though no decision was made, the Associated Press reported Israeli officials as saying.

The Tel Aviv-based Ha'aretz newspaper today quoted an unnamed Israeli general as saying that Israel could launch further attacks on Lebanese infrastructure and symbols of government in response to the rocket attacks.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Arab leaders were considering holding an emergency summit on Lebanon in Saudi Arabia later this week.

The Saudi foreign minister, Saud al-Faisal, was expected to call for the summit during an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Beirut today, Saudi sources said.

The Lebanese As-Safir newspaper reported that attempts were under way among Arab states to hold a summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, later this week.