Israeli ground troops have entered southern Lebanon to attack Hezbollah bases on the border, a government spokesman said Monday. Israel's six-day-old offensive against Hezbollah following the capture of two Israeli soldiers earlier had been an aerial campaign.

The government spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said the Israeli army chief of staff confirmed that ground troops were also in Lebanon.

Earlier Monday, Israeli fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese infrastructure, setting Beirut's port ablaze and hitting a Hezbollah stronghold in attacks that killed at least 17 people and wounded at least 53 others in overnight attacks, Lebanese security officials said as the death toll from the conflict rose to more than 200 - 196 in Lebanon and 24 in Israel. Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets that flew farther into Israel than ever before.

Israel also kept up pressure in the Gaza Strip as it searched for a kidnapped soldier, bombing the empty Palestinian Foreign Ministry building for the second time in less than a week in what it said was a warning to the ruling Hamas party.

Israel launched the offensive June 28 after Hamas-linked militants carried out a cross-border attack on a military outpost, killing two soldiers and capturing another. Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas joined the fray last week, attacking a military patrol in northern Israel, killing eight soldiers and capturing two.

Israel said its planes and artillery struck 60 targets in Lebanon overnight as its military sought punishment for the barrage of 20 rockets on Haifa, the country's third-largest city and one that had not been hit before the current round of fighting began July 12.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed "far-reaching consequences" for the Haifa attack. The eight deaths made it Hezbollah's deadliest strike ever on Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also arrived in Syria for talks with the government on the crisis. Syria and Iran have applauded Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers, which triggered the offensive.

Israeli officials accused Syria and Iran of providing Lebanese guerrillas with sophisticated weapons, saying the missiles that hit Haifa had greater range and heavier warheads than those Hezbollah had fired before.

Speaking on the margin of the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the fighting would not stop until the conditions for a cease-fire were created.

"The only way is if we have a deployment of international forces that can stop bombardment coming into Israel," he said.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed to Israel to spare civilian lives and infrastructure. The G-8 nations, who had struggled to reach a consensus on the escalating warfare between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, have expressed concern on the "rising civilian casualties" and urged both sides to stop the violence. 

Foreigners continued to flee and several nations moved to get their citizens out. Russia sent an airliner to Jordan on Monday as it prepared to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Britain also airlifted 40 of its citizens from Lebanon over the weekend and another group was taken out Monday, Ambassador James Watt said. A French ship was due to arrive in the port later Monday to evacuate Europeans.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said Sunday that despite Israel's attacks, the guerrillas were "in their full strength and power" and that their "missile stockpiles are still full."

"When the Zionists behave like there are no rules and no red lines and no limits to the confrontation, it is our right to behave in the same way," Nasrallah said in a televised address, looking tired. He said Hezbollah had hit Haifa because of Israel's strikes on Lebanese civilians.

Syria and Jordan on Monday sent relief to the Lebanese people who had gone through Israeli bombardment over the past six days.

Syrian Ministry of Health provided Lebanon with six tons of medical and nutritional materials, the official SANA news agency reported.

"Since the first day of the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, Syria has sent 18 tons of aids for different needs," a ministry source said.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Foundation sent urgent relief to Lebanon and the Palestinians to help them overcome the ordeal inflicted by the consistent Israeli aggressions, local media reported.

A total of 20 trucks loaded with 300 tons of tents, pharmaceuticals, children food and other foodstuffs left for Lebanon while another 25 trucks loaded with 350 tons of relief drove to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Syria has also received hundreds of Lebanese families at the Institution for Blinds, in cooperation with the Naba Civil Association, and offered them all required needs, SANA said. "There are enough places to receive all the incomers," said Labor and Social Affairs Minister Diala al-Hajj Aref.

Aref said the ministry, along with the Secretariat General of the Syrian-Lebanese Supreme Council, has set up centers on the borders between the two countries to receive the Lebanese people.

Syrian border crossings have become Lebanon's main outlet to the outside world since Israel imposed air and sea blockade on the country during a massive offensive launched on July 12 in response to the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Lebanese Hezbollah.

Also on Monday, the UN Security Council held closed-door consultations on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon but failed to decide what the world body should do to stop the bloodshed.
 
The 15-member council had convened on the same agenda Saturday, reaching no agreement on adopting a statement calling for a ceasefire, with Lebanon accusing the United States of blocking the effort.

"Whatever measures can be taken, even humanitarian measures, cannot be taken under fire," Nouhad Mahmoud, the Lebanese special envoy, said. "That's the urgent thing ... without the ceasefire, nothing can be achieved."

US Ambassador John Bolton said he expects no decision from the council until a three-member UN crisis team dispatched to the Middle East returns and reports back to the council.

The team, which Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided to send to the region last week, has already visited Egypt and is now holding meetings with Lebanese officials in Beirut. The team also planned to travel to Syria, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Speaking to reporters after the council wrapped up the meeting, Ibrahim Gambari, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, said he briefed the council on the situation in the Middle East.

Describing what was happening in the region as a "situation of open war," he said the conflict would bring devastating consequences to not only Lebanon and Israel, but also the entire Middle East.

He also noted that the humanitarian situation in Lebanon "is becoming more sever," saying the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs was dispatching a four-member team to Beirut and Damascus to provide emergency humanitarian coordination support.

French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said it was important for the council to work on "a contribution for a sustainable solution," noting that work towards such a lasting solution was much more important than any resolution, press statement or other declaration that could be produced quickly.

"There have been many thoughts and discussions going on and we have to take stock of all these ideas and work on a contribution of the council towards a sustainable solution," he replied to a question about a proposed multinational force and other possible long-term measures.

After Monday's consultations, the French and US ambassadors called for the implementation of resolution 1559 adopted by the council in September, 2004 which called for the withdrawal of all remaining foreign forces from Lebanon, disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies, Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2006)