Israel puts new attack on hold

JERUSALEM – Israel has put its massive new ground offensive into southern Lebanon on hold for two or three days to give the U.N. Security Council more time to come to an agreement on a cease-fire, an Israeli Cabinet minister and senior officials said Thursday.

Israel’s Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved an expanded ground offensive in Lebanon, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided to put the campaign on hold temporarily to see whether diplomatic efforts will produce results, a senior Israeli government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Asked by Israel Radio about the delay, Cabinet minister Rafi Eitan said: “There are diplomatic considerations. There is still a chance that an international force will arrive in he area. We have no interest in being in south Lebanon. We have an interest in peace on our borders.”

The United Nations has been under tremendous pressure to agree quickly on a cease-fire to end the fighting that has caused widespread destruction across southern Lebanon and forced hundreds of thousands of Israelis into bomb shelters. Israeli officials implied they would halt the new offensive if a cease-fire agreement removes Hezbollah from the border.

Diplomatic efforts to reach a quick U.N. resolution have faltered over differences between Washington and Paris on an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon. France backed Lebanon’s call for Israeli troops to pull out once hostilities end, while the United States supported Israel’s insistence on staying until a robust international force is deployed. Lebanon has offered to send troops to patrol the border region.

Despite the delay of the offensive, Israeli troops, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, entered several southern Lebanese towns early Thursday and took up positions, witnesses said.

Hezbollah said its guerrillas were engaged in “a violent confrontation” with Israeli forces whose tanks tried to advance toward the border town of Khiam, the group’s Al-Manar television reported. Israel Army Radio reported that heavy battles were in progress in south Lebanese villages across from Israel’s Galilee panhandle, hard- hit by rockets.

No further information was immediately available.

The new advances came a day after Israel suffered its highest death toll in a single day, with 15 soldiers killed. The fighting has killed at least 829 people on both sides.

The dispute between the co-sponsors of the draft Security Council resolution – France and the U.S. – sparked a flurry of meetings Wednesday and raised the possibility of rival U.S. and French resolutions – or no resolution at all for the time being.

The White House said Wednesday neither Israel nor Hezbollah should escalate their war. Press secretary Tony Snow said the U.S. message was for both sides.

French President Jacques Chirac appealed for rapid agreement.

“The most immoral of solutions would be to accept the current situation and give up on an immediate cease-fire,” he said.

In a televised speech, meanwhile, Hezbollah’s leader taunted the Israelis.

“If you enter our land, we will throw you out by force and we will turn the land of our invaluable south into your graveyard,” Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said. “We will be waiting for you at every village, at every valley. Thousands of courageous holy warriors are waiting for you.”

Nasrallah rejected a draft U.N. resolution that would temporarily let Israeli troops remain in south Lebanon and take defensive action.

Israel’s expanded ground offensive would seek to force Hezbollah guerrillas – and their short-range rockets – out of southern Lebanon and past the Litani River, about 18 miles north of the border. If successful, it would leave Israel in control of a security zone that it evacuated six years ago after a bloody 18-year occupation.

In a major shift, Nasrallah said Hezbollah supported a deployment by the Lebanese army after a cease-fire is declared and Israel leaves.

Israeli officials remained skeptical of the Lebanese offer and were not convinced Lebanon’s army would take concrete action to stop Hezbollah attacks.