Rice Stops in Beirut Amid Mounting Action

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — As Israeli troops drove deeper into southern Lebanon yesterday, Secretary of State Rice flew into Beirut for a difficult, five-hour surprise visit with Lebanese leaders, who expressed growing frustration over the American role in the conflict.

Ms. Rice, who later flew to Jerusalem, told reporters that she had begun her Middle East trip in Beirut “because I’m deeply concerned about the Lebanese people and what they’re enduring.President Bush wanted me to make this the first stop.”

Prime Minister Siniora of Lebanon and other senior officials made it clear to Ms. Rice that they wanted an immediate cease-fire and expressed dismay with what they saw as America’s implicit endorsement of Israel’s continued bombardment of Hezbollah targets around the country, Lebanese officials said.

Hezbollah, a militant Islamic group, controls the southern part of the country, where it has been launching missiles into northern Israel.

The secretary of state had said before the trip that she wanted to create conditions for a “sustainable” ceasefire. The 13-day-old conflict has claimed the lives of nearly 400 Lebanese and at least 41 Israelis.

Israeli troops were encountering heavy resistance as they closed in on a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon; at least four Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting, and 15 others wounded.

In Gaza, meanwhile, shelling killed five people and injured several others.

Israel has sent about 3,000 troops to the border region to drive Hezbollah from a six-mile swath of arid hills and stony valleys that Hezbollah militants have been using to launch rockets throughout the Galilee region. Hezbollah fired more than 80 rockets yesterday onto a number of Israeli communities, including Kiryat Shemona and Safed in the northern Galilee and the port of Haifa, on the Mediterranean.

The military reported that at least one person was seriously injured in the barrages.

Yesterday’s fighting also saw Israel’s first capture of prisoners in the course of the conflict — two Hezbollah guerrillas who were seized near the town of Bint Jbail, according to military sources.

Israel may be able to use the prisoners as leverage in any swap involving its own soldiers.

The current fighting began after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed eight troops in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Two convoys carrying generators for hospitals, food and medical supplies left Beirut on Monday for the besieged southern city of Tyre and the town of Marjayoun, although Israel has yet to announce a safe route into the region for relief aid.


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