A second front opens for Israel

Israeli aircraft had destroyed three key bridges crossing the Litani River, cutting off much of southeast Lebanon from the capital, Beirut. One Lebanese soldier and two civilians were killed when the Qasmiya Bridge on the main coastal road north of Tyre was blown up. Lebanese soldiers blocked the roads leading to the bridges instructing motorists to return north out of the area.

From the Christian town of Marjayoun, just north of the border, the deep boom of Israeli shellfire was heard as round after round exploded in a valley at the foot of the Shebaa Farms.

The residents of south Lebanon are accustomed to the sounds of warfare, but many had been hoping for calm during the summer months when the Lebanese tourist season is at its peak and thousands of expatriot Lebanese return to their former villages.

"Why is Hizbullah doing this? Why do we have to suffer for the sake of the Palestinians?" asks Mr. Haddad.

The roar of a low- flying Israeli aircraft signals an airstrike in progress. A loud blast echoes across the valley, followed quickly by a tower of dust and smoke climbing into the deep blue sky east of the Shiite town of Khiam.

Smoke billows from a Hizbullah position perched on a strategic hill overlooking the border, evidence of an earlier Israeli raid.

While analysts agree that Hizbullah's kidnapping operation was a deliberately timed gesture of support for the Palestinians in Gaza, it will probably sharpen the intense debate in Lebanon over the fate of Hizbullah's military wing.

The attack comes at a time when Hizbullah faces intense domestic and international pressure to disband its military wing. Hizbullah refuses to disarm, saying that the resistance is a vital component of Lebanon's national defense strategy.

Although Hizbullah occasionally attacks Israeli military positions in the Shebaa Farms, it rarely admits to operations elsewhere along the 70-mile frontier.

The attack is certain to aggravate an already fraught political climate in Lebanon, with the group's critics arguing that anti-Israel attacks threaten Lebanese stability.

But some analysts maintain that Hizbullah is looking beyond Lebanon in seeking to bolster its image as an exemplar of pan-Islamic anti-Israeli resistance, particularly with the Palestinians in Gaza under attack.

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has trod a fine line in appeasing the powerful Hizbullah, officially describing its military wing as resistance rather than as a militia, and thus exempt from UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for its dismantling. But Mr. Siniora recognizes that Hizbullah's determination to retain its weapons is inimical to his attempts to restore Lebanon's flagging economy and reverse the staggering national debt of more than $40 billion.

"Look at the position of the government now," says Timur Goksel, university lecturer in Beirut and former senior UN officer in south Lebanon. "Hizbullah is part of the government and they have now put the government in a very awkward position."

He adds: "This will make the Palestinians happy and some other Arabs who will be glad to see someone doing something against Israel, but I don't think you will find that feeling in Lebanon."

Meanwhile in Gaza, Israel dropped a quarter-ton bomb on a home Wednesday in an attempt to assassinate top Hamas fugitives. Nine members of a family, including seven children, were killed.

The airstrike, which targeted the No. 1 militant on Israel's wanted list, came hours before the Hizbullah kidnapping.

Elsewhere in Gaza, at least nine Palestinians were killed in four separate incidents that included Israeli tank fire and a gunfight. Israel has been conducting a large-scale military offensive in Gaza since Hamas militants captured the soldier on June 25. The campaign's declared aim is to force Hamas militants to turn over the soldier and to halt ongoing rocket fire on southern Israel.

More than 60 Palestinians have been killed. Most of the dead have been gunmen, but more than a dozen civilians have died. One Israeli soldier has been killed.

Wednesday's aerial attack in Gaza City seemed likely to intensify international criticism of Israel. The United Nations has already complained about what it said was disproportionate use of Israeli force in the Gaza operation.

In Rome, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for the release of all captured Israeli soldiers, but also condemned the incursion in Lebanon. "We would not want to see an expansion, an escalation of conflict in the region," Annan said.

• Material from the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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