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Israel bombards Lebanon

KIRYAT SHMONA, (Israel): Katyusha rockets slammed into northern Israel on Sunday despite a four-day Israeli air and artillery blitz on Lebanon to halt the attacks by Hizbollah guerrillas.

Foreign Minister Ehud Barak ruled out diplomatic activity at this stage to end the Israeli air and artillery onslaught until Lebanon curbed the Iranian-backed group.

Four rounds of Katyusha rockets fell in northern Israel on Sunday, causing light damage but no injuries, witnesses and security sources said.

In Lebanon a Hizbollah spokesman said the guerrilla group would pound northern Israel "continuously and heavily" with Katyusha rockets and turn northern Israel into "hell".

"We are firing dozens of Katyusha rockets into Zionist settlements," said the spokesman who telephoned Reuters in Beirut.

Israel's army gave hundreds of thousands of residents of the Lebanese port of Tyre and nearby towns and villages until 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) to flee their homes ahead of Israeli raids on the area.

"I wouldn't like to exaggerate the significance of any diplomatic contacts at this stage," Barak told Israel Radio.

"Right now our guns and our aircraft are hitting the Hizbollah and I believe that the time will come for diplomatic contacts only once the government in Beirut will realise its responsiblity to take over Hizbollah," he said on Sunday.

Lebanon says Israel must first withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon.

One Katyusha on Saturday knocked out electricity in Kiryat Shmona, Israel's biggest border town. Another northern community lost power after a rocket attack on Sunday.

Israeli soldiers in full battle gear drove through the Kiryat Shmona, instructing residents over loudspeakers to go back to their bomb shelters. Thousands of residents fled the border area earlier.

The army said warplanes attacked Hizbollah targets north of Israel's 15 km (nine-mile) wide occupation zone in Lebanon. More than 200,000 residents of south Lebanon fled their homes to escape the attacks.

"The targets hit are used as launching pads for attacks by the Hizbollah group," an army spokeswoman said.

The army said civilians who remained in Tyre and other towns and villages in south Lebanon risked their lives in what it said was a two-hour extension of its deadline.

On Saturday an Israeli helicopter rocketed an ambulance near Tyre killing four children and two women. Israel said a Hizbollah guerrilla was also travelling in the vehicle.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres said on Saturday the military offensive in Lebanon would continue until Hizbollah guerrillas stopped rocketing northern Israel.

He said Israel did not intend to get as deeply involved in Lebanon as it did when its army thrust into its northern neighbour in 1982 with the aim of driving guerrillas away from the border and remained for three years before pulling out the bulk of its troops and setting up the occupation zone.

"Eleven years ago I had the honour of being the prime minsiter that took the army out of Lebanon," he told a cheering crowd in the city of Haifa on Saturday night in a speech ahead of May 29 national elections.

"We do not intend to go back in there. But neither do we intend to let the Hizbollah fire Katyusha rockets at Kiryat Shmona," he said, adding: "If Kiryat Shmona is not safe, Hizbollah-land will not be a safe place either."-Reuter