Israelis, Hezbollah Keep Fighting

Israel targeted roads and water installations Wednesday in its unrelenting bombardment of southern Lebanon, and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher met Lebanese leaders in pursuit of a truce.

Israeli warplanes blasted a water pipe feeding 23 villages, apparently trying to clear the 7,000 remaining inhabitants from the region where Israel has been hunting Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas for two weeks.

At the same time, Israeli gunboats kept up steady bombing of the coastal highway linking Beirut with the south, reducing civilian traffic and supplies on the 50-mile-long lifeline to a trickle.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah guerrillas fired 60 more Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, according to a United Nations count. Hezbollah’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, vowed to continue attacks against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon even if a cease-fire is declared.

Christopher traveled Wednesday to Chtura in the Syrian-controlled Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon, roughly 30 miles from the battle zone, to try to boost the slow-moving U.S. mediation effort.

Addressing a news conference after meeting with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Christopher said “difficult problems remain” in the U.S. effort to achieve a cease-fire.

Despite Christopher’s cautious remarks, President Clinton reported “encouraging news” after earlier talks in Washington with visiting Lebanese President Elias Hrawi.

And French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette - Christopher’s rival mediator in the Lebanon campaign - told a news conference in Damascus, Syria, he hopes for a cease-fire within 24 hours.

Christopher met with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Syrian President Hafez Assad earlier Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Israel celebrated its 48th birthday, with Peres cutting a cake in an underground bomb shelter as Katyusha rockets fell outside.

Peres made an independence day visit to the northern town of Kiryat Shemona, where life has come to a standstill since Israel’s military offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon began two weeks ago.