Israel retaliates with more bombings

Hizbollah guerrillas fired two anti-aircraft missiles at the aircraft while Lebanese army units deployed in the area also fired heavy machineguns.

No Israeli planes were hit, the sources said.

Hizbollah fighters sealed off the stricken area and barred reporters from inspecting the damage, the sources said.

The raids came one day after Hizbollah guerrillas fired scores of katyusha rockets at northern Israel in retaliation of a shelling attack in the southern port city of Sidon by pro-Israeli local militiamen which killed seven civilians.

The raids were part of attacks and reprisals this week that have raised fears that a 1996 ceasefire understanding would be wrecked by spiralling violence in south Lebanon, where Hizbollah is battling Israeli forces and their local militia allies. The understanding bars attacks on civilian targets.

Meanwhile, in Gaza City, Palestinian leader Yasser Afafat has moved to launch a dialogue with the radical Islamic group, Hamas, under pressure from Israel. The meeting aims to bring hamas and other groups into a “national front” with Arafat supporters “in a mechanism to face all the challenges before the palestinian authority,” said Faluji, aminister in Arafat’s cabinet.

In the wake of a July 30 suicide bombing in Jerusalem which Israel has blamed on Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu imposed crippling sanctions on the Palestinians in a bid to force Arafat to launch an offensive against Islamic radical groups.

Arafat, in response, has refused to make a widespread security crackdown.