Israel expands ground offensive

Israel began an expanded ground offensive in southern Lebanon after expressing dissatisfaction over an emerging cease-fire deal, government officials said.

Israel began an expanded ground offensive in southern Lebanon after expressing dissatisfaction over an emerging cease-fire deal, government officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defence minister, Amir Peretz, made the decision to expand the offensive after meeting for four hours on Friday. Peretz instructed the Israeli Defence Forces to launch the offensive, officials said.

Olmert8217;s spokesman, Asaf Shariv, said that the expanded incursion had already begun. An emerging cease-fire deal being worked out by the UN Security Council fails to meet Israel8217;s basic requirements8212;such as stationing robust international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws, said the spokesman.

8220;Yesterday we were very optimistic, but they the Security Council took the wrong turn,8221; Shariv said.

Earlier, Israeli jets blasted a key bridge to Syria in northern Lebanon and killed 12 people. The conflict for the first time touched the entire length of Lebanon from skirmishes on the Israeli border in the south to the airstrike on the northern frontier about 105 miles away and sent the message that no place was safe from the widening Israeli attacks.

But Hizbollah delivered a similar statement to northern Israel with another barrage of more than 150 rockets, it said. Rescue workers said seven people in the port of Haifa were injured by shrapnel.

The most severe fighting continued around Marjayoun, an important hub just north of Israel8217;s Galilee panhandle that juts into Lebanon.

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The city gives Israeli gunners a view of the Litani River valley and other areas used as launching grounds for Hizbollah rockets. Israeli tanks rolled into Marjayoun on Thursday.

UN peacekeepers arrived today to evacuate Lebanese soldiers and police from Marjayoun, but they delayed any attempt to leave because of the combat. By taking Marjayoun, the Israeli Army was closer to Beirut than at any time since the fighting began on July 12.