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Israeli planes kill 3 Hizbollah men, one civilian

RASHAYA, (Lebanon): Three Hizbollah guerrillas and one civilian were killed in separate Israeli air rids in south Lebanon on Friday, Hizbollah and security sources said.

The Israeli blitz into Lebanon entered its ninth day despite international calls for an immediate ceasefire after Israeli shelling killed 101 Lebanese refugees at a U.N. base on Thursday.

Hizbollah sources said Israeli planes fired several rockets at a guerrilla position in Bourket Jabour area at the southern edge of the eastern Bekaa Valley, killing three and seriously wounding two Hizbollah men.

Israeli planes also launched several raids on villages in south Lebanon, killing a civilian near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh south of the port city of Tyre, security sources said.

Israeli gunboats shelled a coastal strip at the entrance of the port of Sidon south of Beirut. Witnesses said more than 10 shells fell in the vicinity of the coastal highway, the only link between Beirut and south Lebanon.

Hizbollah said on Thursday night that only three guerrillas had been killed since the Israeli onslaught began on April 11.

The latest deaths bring the number of people killed in the onslaught to at least 151 people, mostly civilians. Nearly 300 have been wounded.

Israeli planes also launched raids against a cluster of villages near Tyre a night of artillery and rocket exchanges with Hizbollah guerrillas, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties.

Israeli artillery shelled the area and villages in the Nabatiyeh area to the northwest, the witnesses said.

U.S. President Bill Clinton and other world leaders called for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hizbollah after Thursday's massacre of the refugees at a U.N. peacekeepers' base near Tyre.-Reuter