Lebanon toll passes 200

Israeli aircraft struck targets across Lebanon on Monday, hitting many areas north and east of Beirut that have so far been quiet.

Nine civilians, all from one family and including children, were killed and four wounded in an air strike that destroyed a house in the south Lebanese village of Aitarun. Four others died in strikes elsewhere in the south.

Another strike at a Lebanese army barracks at Jumhur area, east of Beirut, killed 10 Lebanese soldiers and wounded 30.

Aljazeera television reported that Israeli forces had also attacked targets around Zahle, a mainly Christian town in central Lebanon, and attacked ambulances on nearby roads.

Diplomatic efforts have brought no signs of an end to the week-old assaultt that has begun after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers.

Israel's military action in Lebanon has so far killed at least 220 people, all but 14 of them civilians, and inflicted the heaviest destruction in the country for two decades, with attacks on ports, roads, bridges, factories and petrol stations.

Over in weeks

Israel's deputy army chief, Major-General Moshe Kaplinsky, told Army Radio: "The fighting in Lebanon will end within a few weeks. We will not take months.

"We need more time to complete our very clear goals. When we fight terror it is a war that needs to be very accurate, very schematic and it takes time.

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